


Breathing In Snowflakes

by bradfordbuttfuck



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Crushing, Falling In Love, Fluff, Implications Of Fate, M/M, Magic Powers, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Secret Admirer, Stalking, Supernatural Elements, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, idk what to tag on this omg, teleporter!zayn, they're in London
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 23:09:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1322686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bradfordbuttfuck/pseuds/bradfordbuttfuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After spending two weeks in London, Niall is ready to fly back to Ireland for Christmas. But his plans to return home for the holidays are ruined once he finds himself stuck with one of London’s greatest mysteries; Zayn Malik.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. DAY ONE: The Day I First Met You

It was Niall's last day, here in London. Shutting the taxi door, he sighed to himself sadly. Staying here for a week was certainly fun, not as fun as he'd hoped it would be, but it was still great to visit his friends. Its the day before Christmas Eve Eve, so that means he's got two days to Christmas and he's not really excited. Ever since he figured out Santa wasn't real (thanks to Greg) he never really looked forward to the holiday. Yeah, he still got presents, but its always the same. He just wanted something different for once, he wanted those really special Christmas adventures; sadly, his life's too boring for one of those. 

  
He dragged his suitcase behind him, shouldering his backpack before entering the airport. Taking one quick glance over his shoulder to see the taxi drive away, the Big Ben coming into view. "Goodbye London," he mumbled under his breath, white frost wafting in front of his face whilst the snow fell softly, coating the floor in a blanket of white.   
  
–   
  
Niall sat in a seat, waiting for the screen to say that his gate was open. He had about thirty minutes left and all he could think of was the fact that he was in dire need of a snack and some sleep. He decided that the latter option could be fulfilled in the airplane and he got up, eyes scanning for a good place. Adjusting the bag on his shoulder, he made his way towards the food court.  
  
His eyes wandered around tiredly, trying to find a good shop but finding none that perked his interest; finally deciding on the closest. Looking up at the menu board, he settled for a chicken and cheese panini, quickly ordering it and taking a seat. _The food was okay,_ he thought, it was enough to fill his hunger though, which was good. The tv in the corner was softly playing throughout the small cafe, the news was on and at first Niall didn't care, but his attention was captured by the story he's been hearing play throughout the city while he's been here. It was like its constantly on replay, as if the police made it their personal mission to catch the culprit. In Niall's opinion, he hadn't really done anything wrong, he's seen the things this guys done, and oddly enough, it seemed he was always the first one to see it.   
  
This 'criminal' was apparently some weird artist that hasnt been spotted at all. Or the police are just stupid. 

  
  
_**The last sighting was near Big Ben, the culprit laying another one of their infamous, yet mysterious, poems straight on the side of the building.** _

  
  
The news reporter blared and all Niall could think about was how that was incredibly badass. Niall leaned forward, this guy was certainly interesting, it amazed him how he had never been caught vandalising. Even more surprising is that he did his latest piece right on the side of one of London's greatest landmarks.   


  
_**The poem consisted of only two lines.** _

_**"** Love speaks from the heart, _  
 _that can whisper from a distance."_

_**The police recently have gotten footage of said culprit and it seems this guy is not at all what he seems.** _  


  
Niall's ears perked up, slowly chewing so he can listen more. He watched as the footage began to role and his eyes widened. The video was grainy, but you can just about make out a faint figure, dressed casually in denim, spray painting on the wall. Niall recognised the wall from the pub he visited a couple of days ago, he remembered exiting and seeing the words beautifully sprawled all over the wall:  


  
_"My heart hurts, my heart aches. Without you, my heart breaks."_

  
Niall chuckled, it was honestly adorable and quite romantic for this mystery guy to just spread his love around the city's walls.   
  
The guy had dark hair and he looked as if he almost finished. Niall watched intently, swallowing his food and focusing, probably looking weird for squinting at the screen but so what. His back was facing the camera, giving Niall the perfect view of his outline. The guy looked over his shoulder, his eyes catching the sight of the camera; a visible smirk appearing on his face before he– _did he just? No, he didn't. Its impossible,_ Niall thought. Mouth gaping as it replayed. The guy vanished, but how can he? It wasn't dark, you could see very well that he disappeared, a cloud of black, thick smoke left from where he was. _Was this guy magic?_  


  
**_The police are still on the case, they've been tracking him for the last month and believe they're getting closer to catching him. He's been unstoppable for the past few weeks but we all feel that this mystery is nearing his end. Sources even say they've spotted him in six different parts all over London. More updates soon._ **  


  
Niall got up from his chair, finished with his food and lifted the snapback on his head before running a had through his hair. He slings his backpack back over his left shoulder and uses the back of his free hand to wipe away any food on his mouth. This guy wasn't doing anything that bad, he was just spray painting in the sides of popular places throughout the city. What Niall was curious about was the vanishing part to this mysterious-magician-person-thing. That was something he wanted to know about. He chuckled, no wonder the police haven't caught him, this guy's capable of going _poof!_ Niall stops just outside of the shop and slips his hand into his pocket, searching for his phone to check the time. 

Once its in his hand, the unexpected happened.   
  
A body crashes into his, his phone almost slipping from his hand and his backpack almost slips from his left shoulder. "Oof!" He says from the impact, he looks up at the crasher and he's met with wide, hazel eyes. He was just about to curse at the stranger when said person grabs his shoulders and for a second he thinks he's lost his vision. In a flash, all the light was gone, and Niall found himself tightly squished between a body into total darkness. 

The unnamed lad has a hand over Niall's mouth, hips pressed together whilst Niall was practically sandwiched against him and the wall. It takes him a while to think, not really knowing exactly what happened. The loud marching of boots was heard and all the blonde could see was pitch black, and it was honestly unsettling. "Where is he?" Various voices shout, and Niall's eyes widen, his brows raised high on his forehead. The hazel eyed stranger has got his other hand on his hip and he's pressing a little too close for Niall's liking. His blue eyes adjust to the darkness slowly and he finally sees that the lad has his face turned, looking towards Niall's left and the blonde assumes he's listening to whats happening outside. Niall thinks to himself. He feels his backpack digging right into his skin, his items feeling rough on his shoulder blades. He's a little shocked for a minute, eyes wandering to where he is and he suspects, due to the large number of brooms and cleaning supplies, he's in a supply cupboard. Niall also notices a sharp pain in his right wrist.

  
The stranger looks at him, smirking slightly and chuckling at Niall's shocked face. The sound of various running fades away and the guy releases his mouth. There's a light shining from his left since the doors cracked open a little, how convenient. Niall pants for a minute, rudely shoving the stranger away just a bit so he could check his phone. He shines it under his chin and he could finally see the faint features of the strangers face.   
  
Niall decides he likes this guys face. He also decides that this guy is fucking _crazy_. "W-Was that the police?!" He exclaims in disbelief before the hand returns on his mouth and the strangers body is once again pressed into his, wrists brushing together. Niall's mouth goes as dry as the Sahara Dessert.  
  
"Shhh, shhh... relax, okay?" Niall nods with wide blue eyes and he's released again, stepping back. "Yeah, it was." He nods, almost as if its normal to run from the cops.   
  
" _Wonderful_. Now get lost." The blonde commanded watching as the unnamed boy took a step back, the tinkling of metal was heard and Niall found his right wrist seeming quite tight and restricted. "Oi, let go of me wrist!" He whispered, pulling his wrist towards the wall he was being pressed against only to find the lad stumble towards him and once again, this guys face is too close to his. Inappropriate thoughts aside, Niall takes his right wrist up into the air, he discovers that lifting it required lifting something else really heavy. Specifically, another wrist.   
  
He froze, pupils dilating before, "Are we handcuffed together?!" The guy chuckles, nodding his head and shakes the metal. Niall rushes for his phone, checking the time before running out of the closet(?), he's gonna be late for his flight if he wastes anymore here. A sigh of relief escapes his lips when he discovers they didnt go that far and only to the closet in the panini shop Niall just ate at. He's too in a rush to question the current circumstances.   
  
"Can you please unlock this? I'm in a really big hurry.. I might miss my flight!" The blonde panics, unaware of all the people staring at them. "I.. can't do that." Hazel eyes cast towards the floor, sheepishly smiling.   
  
"What? What do you mean you can't? Aren't you like.. magic, or something? Come on, this isn't funny," Niall shook his head, looking at the metal secured tightly around his and the darker lad's wrist. "Yeah, well, these handcuffs belong to the police."  
  
Niall stared at him for a few seconds, blinking slowly. "What?!"  
  
"Easy there, sunshine. Don't worry, I have a key for it at home." Niall eases slightly, his breath evening out. Taking a good look at the boy in front of him, realisation slaps him in the face. This is _him_. This is the guy on the tv. The teleporting casanova that spreads his love by vandalising property. The paler boy bites his lip nervously.   
  
"No, listen. I don't have time to go your place! This is probably the only plane I can schedule to get home before Christmas!" He flailed his arms, looking genuinely worried because this can't be happening. Not when he's about to go home. What if he's stuck here? What if he never gets out and he's forever chained to a criminal and he ends up in jail? His parents would be so disappointed, they'd probably disown him, or worse they—  
  
"Niall!"   
  
His head snaps up to meet his eyes. "How do you know my – y'know what? Never mind. Just.." He began to shake his arms violently, which did nothing at all except increase the burn in his wrist. The raven haired lad laughed at him, eyes crinkling and Niall can visibly see them sparkle, he relaxes a bit. He gives up, eyes dropping to his side, looking desperate for the metal that clung onto his skin to just fall off.   


  
"Sorry, Irish, looks like you're stuck with me for Christmas," 

  
"No! Don't say that! LaLaLaLaLa...." He blocked his ears, closing his eyes, hoping he'd wake up somewhere between the airport or home. He felt warm fingers wrap around his wrist before a loud swish of wind was heard, his body temperature changing from warm to freezing. 

Once his eyes opened, he wasn't in the airport anymore. 

He found himself in a quite lavish apartment, still handcuffed, with a clear view of London in front of him. "Whoa," Niall gasped. 

"Forgot to tell you that I can kinda go to places without walking or anything," the stranger chuckled before narrowing his eyes at him. "I would tell you my name but I feel that you'd just tell the police back there," Niall rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest but failing too because of the metal chain. He settled for doing it with one arm. "At this point, I honestly don't give a _shit_ what you're called. I just want to go home. Hurry and go find that key." His eyes searched frantically around what Niall guessed was the living room.

"Hmm, with an attitude like that maybe I don't want to let you go." The boy says with an amused half-smile. 

  
"Haha, funny." Niall says sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, though a large part of him was quite worried. "Just, please.. My plane is going to be leaving in ten minutes!" He quickly adds, because he's serious now. And he doesn't have time for games. "Sorry, sunshine, if I go back there I might get caught." He shrugs sadly and yeah, Niall's not having any of it. "You can't be serious." The expression on said pretty boy's face is solemn, almost guilty. Niall groans before he looks around. "Do you even know where the key is?" The darker lad looks around aimlessly before turning to Niall with a nonchalant shrug. 

"You're not even trying!" Niall exclaims.   
  
"Maybe I don't want to," he mumbles but Niall ignores him, a hand, the one that isn't attached to an idiot, going through his hair. He probably lied anyway, _why would he have a key for handcuffs that don't belong to him?_  
  
"Send me back, maybe one of the people that work at the airport have a chainsaw," it came off as a joke but Niall was beginning to think that could be the only solution.

 

"Oh, to rip through the chain?"   


  
"No, to rip off your head." Niall likes the thought of it, but then shakes his head, too many witnesses. "Just send me back." He commands and then the guy does. (Niall still doesn't know his name.) Tan fingers wrap around his wrist and, after a poof of black smoke that swarmed around them, they're back to right outside that shop where Niall was eating, he feels a little breathless and he wonders if its safe to teleport with a passenger.   


  
"Honestly can't believe you," Niall groans under his breath while he tries to find his gate. "What?" The guy next to him chuckles, obviously knowing very well what he did wrong.  
  
"Why the hell did I end up in handcuffs anyway?" Niall mutters, but then this time the tan boy stays silent. "There it is!" He sees his gate in front of him and for now he thinks its fine but then -   


 

"Fuck," the darker lad curses and now he's turning on his heel. "What're you–"

  
  
He's being dragged away now, his wrist burning as they run in the opposite direction of his gate. "S-Stop! Where're you–" he cuts himself off once again as they turn a sharp corner, Niall tries to not drop his backpack. He hears heavy boots clanging behind him and various shouts of "There he is!" Echoing through the halls.   
  
"Listen, I'm sorry," the guy stops running and now he's panting, looking behind Niall's head constantly before he's grabbing Niall's hand. "But you're not coming home for Christmas." He concludes and before Niall's eyes even widen, there's black smoke surrounding them.  


  
Niall stumbles on his feet, falling back a little once his shoes find land again. The things Niall notices first is that the air is colder, his ears are numb from the frost and he can see his breath puff out in front of him. "Don't worry, you get used to it," hazel eyes says, with a hand on Niall's waist.   
  
"Get off of me!" Niall squirms from his grip and steps back and then realises that there was no floor where he's stepping and he squeals slightly. He's falling and his wrist is dragging the guy to fall with him. He screams when he hears cars below him, honking their horns and driving past. He closes his eyes with one last thought. _I'm going to die with an idiot attached to me._ He feels the rush of wind through his hair, and he hears that familiar sound of air slicing, then he lands on the ground, six feet away from the edge of the roof, the stranger falling on top of him.   
  
His heart is pounding against his chest, practically shaking his rib cage because _what the fuck just happened?_   "You know you should really check your surroundings the next time I take you somewhere," Niall lets his head rest on the cement ground for a second, still not understanding whats happening, his eyes focusing on the sparkling brown ones that seem to be shining down at him. He looks behind the strangers head and notices a dark sky, small balls of light scattered across the night. He realises they were on the roof of a building and he feels like an idiot. Niall props himself up onto his elbows, backpack digging again in his back, (which he was wondering why it hasn't fallen off yet with all the pressing and all the poofing and all the black-smoking.) and the guy has his hands planted on either side of his waist, one of his legs slotted in between Niall's.   
  
"Hi," he grins and Niall flushes, his right wrist attached to the guy's left one, reminding him of the issue they're facing. "I'm Zayn," he smiles and Niall rolls his eyes. "M'Niall," he replies, right hand raising through so he could rub his severely aching forehead. He remembers he can't.   
  
He swears he heard Zayn mutter an "I know," but then he shakes his head, vision going blurry because _shit_ , the ground was hard. "Sorry again," Zayn mutters sheepishly and Niall lets out a groan. "So I'm stuck with you?" 

The darker lad looks like he's holding back a grin before he's nodding enthusiastically. "Yep."  
  


–   

  
  
"Maybe we could go borrow a hammer from someone," Niall mumbles, head buried into his knees. Zayn's sitting beside him, leaning back on his hands, his left one close to Niall's right, while he stares at the city skyline. Dark buildings lit up by small lights, he sighs in content.   
  
"Yeah, maybe. If we don't get caught again." Zayn grumbles.   
  
They had been sitting there for a while, just staring at the city lights while going over some ideas of how they can be separated and Niall could go home. Though it was mostly Niall thinking because it seemed like Zayn wasn't even trying, just sitting next to Niall while their pinkies occasionally brushed.    
  
"Seen you on the news. Says you haven't been caught in _weeks_. S'weird how they only found you _now_." Niall mutters.   
  
"Yeah," his voice sounds off, a little uneasy.   
  
"Wonder what time it is.." Niall mumbles, face evident with worry until Zayn points towards somewhere. Niall sees The Big Ben and notices its getting pretty late, he wonders where he'll he sleeping tonight since he won't be back in his comfortable bed back at home. But he has to admit, it's quite peaceful.   
  
"It's nice here," Niall smiles softly, enjoying the view. He feels a stare burning on the side of his head and he catches Zayn staring at him. "What?" He asks. "Nothing," Zayn answers, with a fond smile but he doesn't glance away, which Niall found somewhat cute. He smiles back and turns back to looking at London, the streets seeming more quiet as he watched the lights in some rooms go off.   
  
His bites his lip and hides his head in his arm when he realises something, a loud groan escaping his lips while he hides his blush. "Whats wrong?" Niall shakes his head because its just too embarrassing and he doesn't even like the thought of it. "Tell me," the blonde turns to him, cheeks painted red.   
  
"I really need to pee."  
  
Zayn stares at him for three to five seconds before his heads thrown back, loud barks of laughter coming from his throat while his eyes crinkle at the sides. It only caused Niall to blush harder and shakes his right wrist as some form of punishment for laughing at him. "Don't laugh," he mumbles with a pout. The darker lad looks at him and smirks. "I won't watch." He rolls his eyes when Niall looks away. "Promise?" Niall's aware he sounds like a child but who _isn't_ uncomfortable with people watching them pee?  
  
"Pinky promise even," Zayn chuckles while linking pinkies with him, though he subtly brushed his fingers against Niall's knuckles while he released just because.   
  
"Where can I pee?"    
  
"Why not over there in that bush?"   
  
" _Zaynnnn_ ," Niall whines and the taller boy is back to his laughing self. "Seriously." The blonde shakes his head before standing up, waiting for the other to do the same. "Never peed in a plant before?" Zayn snickers.  
  
"I'm not going to, thats icky." He makes a face before walking towards the edge, Zayn chuckling behind him. He peers over and makes a small high-pitched squeaking noise when he sees how high they are and how he could have fallen from that height.  
  
He blinks slowly before he turns to Zayn. "Okay," he sighs out. "Take me to a toilet!"   


  
–

 

"You done?" Zayn smirks when he hears a quick zipping sound. Niall's cheeks flood pink and he rolls his eyes, "Stop staring at me," the blonde mutters and sounds almost breathless and a little overwhelmed. "Right, lets go then."   
  
"Where?" Zayn grabs Niall's hand, that was still unfortunately chained, and linked their fingers. "Home."   
  
Niall tries not to wince at the word because no, this is _not_ home. Home is back in Ireland with his mam and dad, Greg as well even though he annoys the fuck out of Niall, that's where home was. And he's just really upset that he won't be able to spend Christmas with them because lets face it, there's no way he'll be able to find a plane to fly home before the actual holiday, he knows it'll be all booked.   
  
"Can you take me back to the roof?" Zayn nods his head and Niall finds that he's all relaxed about it. Niall also finds that he will never get used to teleporting. He decides he hates it when he lands on his bum after feeling his feet lift from the floor for a few seconds. "Urgh.." He groans, Zayn landing next to him.   
  
"You need practice," Zayn tells him and Niall shakes his head vigorously. "No, never again."  


  
–  


  
Many minutes pass and Niall likes Zayn's company. He enjoys it even if they did start off on the wrong foot, he also likes the way Zayn stares at him.   
  
"So why were you in London?" Zayn asks him and he snaps out of his trance, hugging his knees to keep himself warm.   
  
"Went to visit my friends. I was hoping I could get something fun out of it but it was quite a boring few weeks, to be honest." He grumbles, though in his mind he wonders how the three lads are doing. Louis, Liam and Harry didn't exactly greet him as enthusiastically as he'd imagined they would, which caused a frown to form on his face. They didn't take him out to go anywhere fascinating, or go sight seeing. Some childhood friends they are.   
  
"London? Boring?" Zayn sounded offended even. "Yeah, didn't exactly go anywhere interesting.." Niall admitted lamely. Come to think of it, this is the most fun Niall's had ever since he got here, including that short trip to the toilet, even if Zayn accompanied him, he still had fun.   
  
"Ooh, I'm _so_ taking you places." Zayn promises to himself and Niall lets out an airy laugh. "What about you?"  
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"Your magic powers!" Niall says giddily, turning to him with interest. "How did you get them?"  
  
"This is a real stupid answer but I honestly don't know, I think I was born with it." Niall nods in understanding, though he was a little disappointed. He expected some bizarre story of how he touched a magic rock or was injected with some fluids or something. "When did you first find out?"  
  
"It was actually pretty late, I was like eleven, maybe? I was getting all these negative thoughts and in school and all I wanted to do was go home. It happened so fast though, I literally just blinked and I was sitting – well, _falling_ off the dining room table." _That was a far more interesting story,_ Niall thought. "That's sick, must have took a while to get your head around the whole mutant thing."  
  
"Mutant?" Zayn replied, amused.   
  
"Yeah, you do, like, some Nightcrawler shit. Y'know, from X-men?" They both chuckled and Zayn nodded. "I guess?"  
  
"But there's one thing I don't understand." Zayn shuffled a little closer to him. "And that is?"  
  
"How did we end up handcuffed together..?" The blonde stared out at the city. "Oh, um, well. Basically, I was running away from the police because they caught me, they came out of nowhere and handcuffed me. Before they locked my second wrist I kinda flashed past them, then I started running away."  
  
"Why were you in the airport in the first place?" Niall interrupted. "I was, ugh, I was looking for.. a place. Somewhere to graffiti." Niall nodded, sighing softly while blinking slowly, the urge to sleep building up inside of him. "I'm guessing since you bumped into me whilst you were handcuffed you kind of had a magic malfunction and we ended up together, huh?" Niall said for him and the darker nodded. "Yeah, thats probably what happened."  


  
–

  
  
"You're not serious.."   
  
"Come on, don't be fussy."  
  
"No!" The blonde shakes his head furiously. "Niall." Zayn groans.   
  
"I'm not doing it! I'm not sleeping in the same bed with some..  _stranger!_ " He shook his head stubbornly. Zayn rolled his eyes, the boy had been refusing to sleep next to him for ten minutes. It was nearing 1am and all Zayn wanted to do was knock him out so he could just shut up and that way they could both sleep peacefully.   
  
"Niall, you can't exactly sleep anywhere else because unless you've forgotten, I'm handcuffed to you." The blonde snorted. "And who's fault was that?"   
  
"Don't be a priss, just shut up and sleep. Are you not even feeling a teeny bit tired? Its 1AM for christ's sake." Niall narrowed his eyes at him, looking at him suspiciously to which Zayn only replied with a loud exaggerated groan. "I'm not gonna kill you in your sleep if thats what you're thinking,"   
  
"I-I wasn't thinking that!"  
  
"Okay. Then what are you thinking?"   
  
Silence. Okay, _maybe_ he _was_ thinking that.   
  
Niall stayed quiet, his eyes slitted as he cursed under his breath stomping over to the bed and lifting the duvet before crawling in. Zayn smiled because finally, he can get some sleep. They both lay on their backs since none of them can face away and Zayn found himself smirking at the ceiling, his right arm tucked under his head. 

"Keep your distance, London boy." Niall whispered, eyes fluttering shut. 

"No promises, Irish." Zayn chuckled back and the corners of Niall's mouth twitched a little, quietly thinking to himself that _yeah_ , this guy wasn't _so_ bad _._


	2. DAY TWO: The Day I Fell Harder

_**Christmas Eve Eve** _

  
Niall shifts in his sleep, soft snores emitting from his lips while he buries his face into his pillow. His brows furrow for a minute because pillows don't breathe. He hears a chuckle. Pillows don't chuckle either. He sniffs twice and shivers in delight. Pillows don't usually smell this nice.   
  
His eyes shoot open and he jumps as far as he could, which wasn't very far considering he was still cuffed and he could only make it as far as the other side of the bed.   
  
"Wh-What are you doing?!" He exclaims, already red from the tips of his ears to the start of his neck. "I should be asking you that, hypocrite. I kept my distance, but you didnt keep yours." Zayn accused, laughing as soon as the blonde's eyes widened, mortified. "I-I.." 

"I should've known you wanted to get in my pants." He tutted, shaking his head before sitting up, nose scrunching with distaste at his shirt.   
  
Due to some reasons, they were unable to take their shirts off ("You should've just cuffed our ankles together,") and after a few minutes of groaning, they also realised afterwards that they are also unable to shower. "So I'm stuck wearing this for Christmas?" Niall pouted. Zayn looked down at him, a smirk playing at his lips while he stifled a chuckle. Niall wore a light green Oklahoma City jumper with a ridiculously cute duck at the front. "Sorry, snowflake." He shrugged. Niall shook his head, sitting up and running a free hand through his hair.   
  
"I really need to get home, my mums probably really worried," he mumbled. "I have no idea how, though," he said.   
  
Looking around the room, he realises there was nothing but a wardrobe, a bed, a chest of drawers with a mirror and a large window. There was no decorations, no family pictures, no computers or laptops, nothing was even plugged into a socket. "Zayn, what do you do in here?" Niall asked, almost amazed how a boy his age was able to live without any electronics; Niall wasn't able to breathe if his phone wasn't in his reach. "Sleep? Change? What else do you do in a bedroom?"   
  
"Twitter, tumblr, YouTube, Facebook, _porn_." He listed, looking at him like he was crazy. "Oh, I like to spend my time in the streets, don't spend much time at home. Guess you've seen some of the things I do out there," Zayn mutters, sitting up on the side of the bed, Niall joining him.   
  
"Yeah, its cool." Niall smiles politely, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his knuckles. "Romantic, too." there's that awkward silence again and Niall can't stress enough how he hates them. He's always the one to break them and, apparently, the one thats always starting them as well. Zayn does this thing where he just stops doing things and stares. It makes Niall uncomfortable. Like all his insecurities are on display but when he actually looks, there's this smile on Zayn's face that makes him forget. Forget the fact that he's stuck in London, that he's handcuffed and probably not gonna be home for christmas. Its a mixture of comforting and creepy.   
  
"Why do you always stare at me?" Niall decides to ask. Once the words are out of his mouth, he suddenly feels nervous. The air getting a little thicker while blood rushes to his cheeks. He bites his lip when he receives the same silence. "Z-Zayn?" He mutters when he notice the boy's face closer than usual.   
  
"You're so different," he breathes against Niall's lips and _shit_ , Niall swallows. _That was so fucking hot._ "I've never met anybody like you before."   
  
"Zayn, I–" Niall turned away, frustrated and flushed. "I need to go home." He mutters awkwardly. That seems to have triggered a flare inside the other boy, because the next thing Niall knew, his fond gaze was replaced with a scowl. 

  
"Well you fucking can't, okay? You're stuck here with me. Just fucking accept the fact that you won't get home for Christmas!" The taller boy growled and Niall saw how he wanted to get up and walk off, the blonde winced. His chest rose and fell, soon his face visibly calmed, looking ashamed and guilty. "I'm sorry," Zayn apologised.   
  
"I've never been with somebody before and with you being here.. it's just really stressing me out." Niall nods in understanding, hesitantly holding his hand, which seems to have caused quite a change in the darker lad, because he immediately calmed. "Its just that – I've always been alone. I didn't really have any friends, as sad as that sounds."   
  
Niall doesn't really know what else to say, not really having any piece of advice for him since he's never experienced it before. He just sits there, having some weird relieved sensation from holding Zayn's hand but he tries not to dwell on it too much. Zayn's chest rises and falls, his whole body stiff with fury apart from his hand, delicately stroking Niall's knuckles as if he'd break. An idea pops into Niall's head and the paler boy stands up, causing Zayn to jerk in surprise. "Get up!"   
  
The taller boy agrees, though his face shows signs of confusion, which Niall understands but with what he has in mind, Zayn won't be so bewildered for long. "Can we go poof-poof to the tower bridge?"  
  
"Poof-poof?" Zayn questions with an amused smile. "Do you mean..?"  
  
"Well I didn't know what it was called, whatever!" Niall rolls his eyes but nods his head, grabbing Zayn's hand.   
  
"You're in pyjama pants, sweetheart." Zayn chuckles fondly, and Niall lets out a huff of annoyance, searching for his trackies which he was sure he left somewhere over the floor. Looking around, Niall crinkles his nose. Their pants were on the floor, their shoes left in random places, it looked like they had sex.   
  
"What're you thinking about?" Zayn asks curiously. The blonde's cheeks tinge pink with embarrassment, shaking his head and bending down to pick up his pants. Niall takes off Zayn's pyjama pants, that he asked for last night, and attempts to put on his trackies but then he realises it's easier to take them off instead of put them on. He struggles for a minute and Zayn's left standing there, stifling giggles.   
  
"Can you, um.." Niall mumbles, one leg in one hole while his hand held one side of the elastic part.   
  
"Course," Zayn smiles, helping him pull his pants. 

 

  
Success, they do it correctly and Niall starts bouncing with excitement because he remembers himself saying he never wants to flash in and out of places but right now was the total opposite. 

"Hold on, babe." Zayn says and Niall's ears match the colour of his cheeks. "What?"   
  
"We need shoes, Ni. And coats and scarves. It's winter, baby. You're not goin' outside like that," he gestures to Niall's duck jumper and the blonde rolls his eyes, nodding his head in agreement.   
  
"Why are we going outside anyway?"   
  
"So you can do what you do best!" Niall grins, putting gloves on himself with a matching grey scarf. "Which is?" Zayn seems to have forgotten why the police want him locked up in the first place. "Art." Niall answers simply and slips on a pair of earmuffs over his head so he's extra warm. Turning to look back at Zayn, he finds the taller boy staring at him again. "Aren't you gonna get cold?" He says, pretending not to notice. Zayn shrugs, searching through the drawer and finding some wooly gloves which were quite thin compared to Niall's.   
  
"You're gonna get cold," Niall warns him but Zayn doesn't seem to care. Instead, he shrugs, booping Niall's nose and turning towards the kitchen.   
  
"You can't vandalise on an empty stomach!" Zayn jokes making Niall laugh a little. "We should have had breakfast before I decided to put on mittens." Niall pouts, about to take them off but Zayn stops him. "I'll make you cereal," he offers kindly and wanders into the kitchen, Niall trailing beside him.   
  
Niall watches him intently, long tan fingers pouring milk in first, which Niall found really weird, before pouring cereal in. Zayn finishes and gives him his bowl, noticing the way Niall watched him, he cocked a dark brow. "What?"  
  
"You pour milk in before cereal."   
  
"Yeah, so?" Niall stares at him like he has two heads before grabbing a spoon. "You're fuckin' weird, mate."  
  
—  
  
"Have you ever been here before?" Zayn asks, once Niall finishes slipping on the frosty surface. (He'll never get used to flashing in and out of places.)   
  
"Nah, that's why I asked." He says, hugging himself and trying to put the earmuffs in a better position on his head. "Right." Zayn says, dumping his backpack onto the ground. They're at the top of tower bridge, Niall peering over the side of it and regretting it immediately. "Jesus.."   
  
"You can hold my hand if you're scared," Zayn elbows him, Niall nods his head, not really noticing he was kidding but it seems the action doesn't at all bother Zayn. Niall grasps Zayn's hand, watching the cars go by. "How are you not freaked out right now?" The blonde asks him and Zayn shrugs.   
  
"Got used to it, I guess," he says and Niall can see the slight pinkness painted over the skin of Zayn's cheeks. Niall lets go of Zayn's hand for a brief moment, removing the scarf around his neck and wrapping it around Zayn's before intertwining their fingers again. The brown eyed boy looks at him confused and Niall smiles warmly. "You were cold weren't you? That's why your cheeks are pink."   
  
"Yeah, that's why." He said a little dully, stroking Niall's knuckles again before staring at the wall in front of him. Niall sees his eyes narrow for a moment and he chuckles when the boy purses his lips. "What?" Zayn asks, puzzled.   
  
"You look like a Hollister model or something," he laughs, imitating Zayn's face and failing. "Hey, shut up. That's my concentrating face, don't make fun of it," he pokes Niall in the stomach, making the blond squirm. "In that case, you look weird."  
  
"You always say I'm weird,"   
  
"Because you are," Zayn sighs in mock annoyance. He scratches the top of his head before letting Niall's hand go and rifling through his backpack for a can of paint. Niall watches curiously, one mitten-clad hand buried inside his pocket whilst the other accompanied Zayn's in the search for a specific colour.   
  
"Do you wanna help me?" Niall smiles sheepishly, shaking his head no. He wouldn't be any help, he'd probably mess it up or something. "You sure?"  
  
"Yeah. I'll just watch." He shrugs. Zayn nods his head and gets started. Zayn's got the beginning of the whole thing done, a plain black background, with spots of colour in addition. Niall finds the atmosphere peaceful, quiet; it certainly helped him drift off, resting his head on Zayn's shoulder, he found his eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Zayn, noticing the blonde's current sleepy form, smiled fondly, sending a small squeeze to the paler boy's hand before continuing. Course, it was more difficult when your movements are restricted, so he did what he thought was best. He rested Niall against a wall, the blonde not all minding and just shuffling the slightest bit to get comfortable.   
  
Zayn smiles, kneeling beside him and placing a small kiss on Niall's forehead. He reaches into his pocket, and unlocks his side of the handcuffs, momentarily feeling guilty but after staring at Niall's blissful expression, all negative emotions are forgotten. It's not his fault, really. He's been spray painting messages to Niall ever since he got here, and Zayn's been following him ever since, the blonde was immensely captivating. And ever since his arrival, Zayn longed to see him smile. His friends, which Zayn really dislikes for certain reasons, have not been good hosts at all. Nobody even came to pick Niall up and jesus when Zayn was watching from the rooftop that day, he was about to jump off it in hopes he'd land in front of Niall and fucking hug him. He wanted to take Niall somewhere fun, take Niall on an adventure. Because obviously, his needs were not fulfilled when Niall hung out with those three hoodlums he calls friends, so Zayn needs to redo everything. Rewind Niall's time here so he remembers his Christmas to be the best one.   
  
Niall shuffles every now and then, but other than that, he looks completely knocked out. Zayn worriedly glances at him while he's spraying because if Niall looks over at him, his plan is ruined. He's taken off his gloves, on purpose of course because once he's finished, there's no doubt in his mind the police are on their way.   
  
Once he's done, he leaves a spray can on the ground. He'd tell Niall later that he'd forgotten it, he plans mentally. Because if the police find it, it just makes them more capable of catching. Zayn figures that if the police get bored, they won't have to run around as much, and that'd give Niall a good excuse to leave.   
  
And he doesn't want Niall to leave. He wants Niall to stay with him. 

  
—

  
  
Waking up, Niall's whole right side was warm. Niall had his forehead pressed against a stubbly cheek, he shifts his hands only to find that he had them encircled around a skinny arm, hot breath fanning over his lips. His eyes flutter open, oceanic irises meeting a golden hazel and Niall concludes that he maybe cold outside, but inside, he's all warm butterflies. It's not as awkward as this morning, because Zayn's looking at Niall the way he always has and this time, unlike this morning, he doesn't say anything to embarrass him; so Niall admits to himself that he likes this position. He likes it very much.   
  
"You hungry?" He asks, and Niall can see his eyes flicker from between his own. "Where are we?" Niall looks around, but then he sees it. They're outside, which was stupid because they're cuddling, sitting against a wall in the middle of all the frost. But that isn't what captured Niall's attention.   
  
There it was, the wall completed with a mixture of colours and words. 

  
_"You're standing by my side,_   
_And even now, I can see_   
_That when our worlds collide,_   
_You're all I'll ever need."_

  
Niall can't help but smile sadly, wanting the poem to be for him for some strange reason. Four lines was all it took for him to instantly forget their current problem. "How did you finish it? I was attached to you the whole time." The blonde asks, amazed.   
  
"Magic." Zayn jokes before he tugs Niall up, patting the snow off from their bottoms. "Wanna go get some food?"  
  
"Yes, please."

  
—

  
Niall chews happily on his subway footlong, glad to have finally eaten something, whilst Zayn eats nervously, glancing around every ten seconds to see if anybody has noticed them. "Dun' worry sho mush," Niall says with a mouthful.  
  
"How can I not when ever since that footage came out, I've always been chased." The darker sighs sadly. Niall doesn't really listen, just continues eating with a satisfied smile on his face. They're sitting at subway, side by side, and Zayn can't keep still, fidgeting every so often that it kind of ruins Niall's happy-eating mood.   
  
"Zaynnnn," he whines, a childish pout on his face. "Can you stop doing that thing with your knee?" The darker lad stares down at his lap. "Sorry,"  
  
"And can you just shut up and eat?" He says, a little less nicely. "It honestly isn't _that_ bad, I think." He adds, watching the boy take a bite out of the sandwich. Soon the tv is flashing blue, the workers of the shop asking to turn the volume up and by the look of Zayn's face, he knew what was coming. 

  
_**Update on the infamous and yet-to-be solved mystery of London. The dark male has said to have started a new project on** _ _**the side of tower bridge.** _

  
"Isn't _that_ bad?" Zayn looks at Niall with a raised brow. Niall shushes him. 

  
_**Another poem has been left, and it was thought, like previous investigations, that no evidence would be found. However there was one thing he left.** _

  
Zayn chokes on his drink. A picture of a spray can pops up on the side. "Please fucking tell me you wore your gloves.." Niall whispers, fidgeting nervously. Zayn frowns, turning his attention back to the screen. 

  
_**Fingerprints have been tracked and we've even gained more camera footage of the mysterious man himself.** _

  
Niall throws a glare at him, one that clearly state he wants to strangle Zayn and throw him off a building. "Gloves are restricting." Was Zayn's only argument. 

  
_**Along with his accomplice. A blonde, caucasian male, was seen with the mystery strolling through various streets. Could this be kidnap? Or could this be another future criminal?** _

  
The tv turns off and Niall is seconds away from committing murder. "What?" Zayn asks innocently. "If you ever get caught, I'm telling them you kidnapped me." Niall grumbles, standing up, hiding his face behind his hand. "Fine with me." Zayn shrugs.   
  
It's become a habit now, the two of them holding hands ever so often and neither are going to question it. Niall would like to ignore how warm Zayn's hands are, despite him wearing no gloves. 

  
They exit the shop and they notice a large crowd of people to their left. "What's going on over there?" Niall nudges him but Zayn's eyes are wide open, already pulling him in the other direction. "Zayn, where–"  
  
"That's not important! Just run!"   
  
So Niall does. And really, it's difficult doing that when you're handcuffed, and trying to not tackle anybody. "Z-Zayn.." He pants but the older boy just tugs him harder. "Why can't we just–" But Zayn doesn't answer, instead, they disappear into a back alley, Zayn's tugging Niall so he's running in front of him. Then he flashes out, and instead of crashing into a brick wall, Niall falls onto a bed, Zayn collapsing on top of him.   
  
Silence. Before, "I'm never gonna get used to this," Niall breathes out, the position similar to the time where Niall almost fell off of a building. The position was a little weird, but jesus christ, Niall was totally fine with it. Zayn chuckles, seemingly pressing their chests together even more before leaning down to whisper in Niall's ear. "I kinda like this position," he admits, flicking his tongue out and licking the shell of Niall's ear after nibbling on his earlobe.   
  
The blonde shudders but then realises something, and without thought, he pushes Zayn off of him.  Zayn seemed to have expected the action as he pulled Niall on top as they spun, the bed luckily being large enough. "Zayn, stop." Niall frowns, removing his legs from either side of Zayn's waist.   
  
He bounces on his bum with a sigh, running his free hand through his hair. He wonders about his parents, if they're worried and if they think he's been killed or something else that would cause them great concern. "You're parents will be fine, I'm sure."  
  
"Oh, so now you can read minds as well?" Niall lets out a quiet laugh, ignoring what just happened because if he did, things'll just get awkward and really, he doesn't want things to be awkward to the guy he's stuck with. "Obviously," Zayn's lips quirk up.  
  
"It's just.. they're probably really worried. Like, they might not care at all but I want to think they do, at least."  
  
"What do you mean they don't care at all?" Zayn says and his pinky is brushing Niall's again, just like the first time they sat together on that roof. "I dunno, it just seems like they don't like me."  
  
"I'm sure you're just thinking things," Zayn tries to tell him but Niall frowns, Zayn hasn't heard what he's heard. "They said that they don't and it kind of upsets me that I could be dead right now and they wouldn't give a flying fuck."

  
"Is that why you're making no effort to get home?" Niall sighs, laying on the bed. His eyes scan the ceiling aimlessly before he answers, "It's not that I don't want to go home, because I do, it's just.. at the same time, I wanna stay here."

  
"Y-You want to stay here?" Zayn says incredulously amazed. "It's better than home, that's for sure. And yeah, I do wanna stay here. I wanna stay here with you." And Zayn thinks that's probably the best thing he's ever heard in his whole fucking life. "You've shown me more care than my parents have and you're not even related to me and I just find that so.." He doesn't know what word to describe it, so he just shakes his head, sitting back up. "So what?"

"I don't know, actually. I just really like you, and you make me smile. You make me happy, Zayn." Zayn grins at that, which causes Niall to grin as well. And now they're just grinning at each other stupidly until Zayn notices the sun gone and the night sky is practically pitch black. 

  
"We should probably get to bed. Christmas Eve tomorrow.." He mumbles lowly, a hint of sadness in his tone that told Niall he didn't want this conversation to end. 

  
"Yeah. We should."


	3. DAY THREE: The Day We First Kissed

_**Christmas Eve** _

_This is the worst day ever,_ Niall thinks. He's crying, a slobbery and snotty, homesick mess. He wants to go home. He wants to go to his family and it's stupid because just last night they were talking about how much they like spending time with each other but right now, Niall's hit with a strange yet powerful need to return to Ireland.   
  
"Niall, Niall! Calm down. Baby, what's wrong?" And the fact that Zayn calls him all these cute nicknames doesn't help at all. Zayn's got his left arm around him, his right hand holding Niall's left and doing that calming knuckle brushing that he always does. Niall's burying his head into Zayn's neck. "I wanna go home, Zayn! I want to leave, I don't want to be here."  
  
"But snowflake, you said –"  
  
"I know what I said! ..but I wanna go home." Niall shakes his head, his lip quivering. He wants to go back. He wakes up this morning, the two cuddled up together in each other's warmth until Niall's eyes flutter open.   


  
Homesickness hits him _hard_.   


  
"B-But Niall.."   
  
"I don't know! I don't understand I.. I just want to leave. I want to go back to my family even if they don't care, I miss them so much." Zayn runs his hand through Niall's hair soothingly, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Don't worry, angel, I'm right here with you, don't cry."  
  
Zayn hears Niall slightly mutter something under his breath but it was too unclear for him to understand. "What was that?"   
  
"I said that.. that I can't believe how _unlucky_ I am. I missed my flight, I'm stuck in London, my parents aren't even trying to look for me and – and I'm handcuffed to a _criminal!_ " As soon as the last part was said, Zayn pulls away, expression hurt. Niall's watery eyes widen with regret. Hazel eyes flash with sadness and Niall's already mumbling apologies.   


  
"Zayn I'm –"  


  
"Is that what you think of me? Some stupid criminal?" Niall shakes his head. "N-No! Z-Zayn I'm sorry, I didn't mean–"  


  
"Do you think that _I'm_ not suffering as well?" He stands up in anger, the sudden movement making Niall wince at the pain in his wrist. "Do you think that through all the years I've been wandering the streets _all alone_ that I actually _enjoyed_ it?!"  


  
Niall gulps back his tears. "I know what you're feeling, Niall! You're parents don't care about you, your friends aren't happy to see you but guess what? I am the exact opposite of that. I do care about you and I am happy to see you and the fact that you're going through what I've went through a few years ago just makes me want to make you happy even more!" Zayn's eyes are blown wide with furiousness, Niall's mouth gaping. "The fact that you called me a 'criminal' is so downright degrading." His voice wavers and that's enough to split Niall's heart in two. "I've been called that before, Niall. Even worse as well. And hearing it come from _you_ , the person that I've been waiting for for _my whole life_ , is so disappointing."  
  
Niall's mind is a full blur right now, Zayn's words coming at him and hitting him like a train. So much is running through his head right now.   
  
Zayn cares about him. Zayn wants to make him happy and Niall is the person he's been waiting for. But yet, one question sticks out from them all. _Why?_  
  
Zayn's clearly angered by this because he's standing up and leading Niall out of the room. Out of the apartment. "W-Where are you taking me?" Niall's suddenly a little scared, fearing that he may have pissed Zayn off to the extent that he might actually murder Niall. Zayn doesn't answer.   
  
"Z-Zayn–" Zayn turns to him abruptly and throws him the coldest glare Niall has ever seen. It wasn't the soft golden gaze anymore, it was pure black with darkness along with a hint of hatred. Niall shrinks slowly, letting his eyes fall onto his shoes and reluctantly letting Zayn lead him to wherever.   
  
As soon as they step out, Niall's shivering already but he's too busy feeling guilty to even notice the hair rising on the back of his neck. It's cold. Not only on the outside because even on the inside Niall doesn't feel the same warmth he felt yesterday, or even a few minutes ago. The blonde feels really bad, like he just slaughtered a child or something. Okay maybe not that bad but the look on Zayn's face is heartbreaking.   
  
Niall starts to freak out when Zayn pushes him into a subway train seven minutes later.   


  
–  


  
They've been here for like four stops and Niall is as red as Rudolph's nose. Zayn had pulled Niall so his back was pressed to the glass and he was chest to chest with Zayn. Basically a **Niall-and-Zayn sandwich.**  
  
It doesn't help at all that every time the damn thing suddenly moves, it causes Zayn's body to press closer to his. Niall's not sure if this is allowed and why Zayn's even doing this because he's made it pretty clear that he's pissed off. They don't even have any tickets and Niall's pretty damn sure that Zayn could just teleport or something. Of course it gets worse because Zayn is staring at him like he's the only thing that matters, what makes the whole situation even better is when Niall stares back and he can't read at all what Zayn is feeling.   
  
Niall attempts to swallow the dryness in his throat but it doesn't do shit because then Zayn's bringing his hand up to Niall's cheek in a sudden caress and–  
  
"F-Fuck.." Niall stutters a little, hazel eyes falling on Niall's lips, he self consciously wets them and looks away. When he side glances not even five seconds later Zayn has that fucking smirk on his face that makes Niall humph and cross his arms over his chest, dragging Zayn's hand along with him, which the older boy took to his advantage, drawing imaginary circles on the skin of Niall's wrists.   
  
He can feel almost a dozen pair of eyes on him and he closes his eyes shut in mortification.   


  
This is officially the _worst_ day ever.  


  
His eyes fly open once more when Zayn's hand, the one not handcuffed and wasn't holding the metal railing above them, tugs Niall's hand with his and wraps it protectively around Niall's waist, which has Niall frowning a little, looking up to see the teleporter with a huge scowl on his face, his eyes slitted into a glare. The blonde raises a brow and follows Zayn's gaze, blue irises finding a familiar face.   
  
"Harry?" The brunette's eyes widened, a frown on his face and Niall immediately regrets it, turning around and wishing that he never called out to him in the first place.   
  
"Niall?" _Fuck, that was Louis' voice._ Harry was with Louis. _Shit!_  
  
The blonde leans into Zayn's protective embrace, hiding his head in the crook of Zayn's neck, arms folded over his chest. He doesn't want to see Harry after what had happened after he arrived, him, Louis or Liam to be honest. They were very ignorant, and jesus christ, Niall tried to enjoy his time there but it was so boring. They didn't even try to entertain him.  
  
"We'll get off at the next stop." Zayn whispers in his ear, his voice still emotionless from the argument earlier, the blonde responded with a short nod and two seconds later the train comes to a halt. Zayn drags Niall out and disappears into the large group of bodies that were also exiting; Niall hears voices calling his name and he refused to look back, clinging onto Zayn's hand tighter.   
  
Niall closes his eyes shut and tries to control his breathing, feeling very claustrophobic with all the bodies pressing close to him. He focuses on moving his feet, feeling the smooth floor under his shoes suddenly getting cold and becoming crunchy. He breathes out and opens his eyes, seeing his breath fog out right in front of him and the floor thinly layered with a white blanket of snow. He looks to his right and sees Zayn, avoiding eye contact like earlier and completely expressionless. His backpacks over his left shoulder and Niall doesn't know why he hasn't made sense of everything yet because it's obvious they went all out here so Zayn could spray paint. Niall watches uneasily as the darker boy tugs harshly at his wrist so he can bend down and get some spray cans from his bag. Zayn drops them carelessly on the floor, turning to Niall while biting his lip, a look of realisation dawning his features.   
  
"You need to sleep."   
  
Niall's eyes widen. "What?"   
  
As soon as he said that, his eyes close shut and his knees buckle, he falls into the other boy's arms; oblivious to the other abilities Zayn's been hiding from him.   


  
—  


  
Zayn could not only teleport to places in the same city, he could also kinda sort of _maybe_ control people's minds? He doesn't know what that's called, was it mind control? He doesn't really know. It was just another one of his abilities. He laid Niall on the ground after laying a soft blanket over it of course, he isn't gonna let Niall sleep on the floor, what kind of person would he be if he did that to his future husband?   
  
It seems that Niall's a pretty deep sleeper because Zayn's hand slipped once, or twice, and dropped the can, causing it to clang loudly but the blonde didn't even budge. Zayn worried that he might be dead but he swears he wouldn’t go that far, his chest was still rising so he’s pretty much alive. Hopefully. Zayn groans in irritation at his paranoia and creeps over to Niall’s sleeping body, he stares at it for a minute and smiles a bit, his blonde hair suddenly seeming lighter with the small drops of snow on top. The darker boy crouches down, tan hand reaching out to slowly caress Niall’s face which was still surprisingly warm, Zayn would get him to wake up later.   
  
He stares up at the wall and yawns a bit. He’s done a lot in the past thirty minutes, probably because he’s quite scared that Niall might wake up and catch Zayn not attached to him and happily spray painting a message for him and Zayn knows, despite knowing the Irish lad for a few days, that that won’t end well. Niall would probably leave him and that’s the last thing Zayn was letting Niall do. He looks back at the blonde boy with a fond grin, the strong urge to kiss those thin lips of his becoming stronger within each passing minute. He shakes his head no, he knows he can’t do that, at least not yet. Maybe later when Niall sees what he made. But for now, Niall’s just gonna have to continue sleeping on the floor.  


  
–  


  
An hour later Niall wakes up finally and Zayn’s back to his usual gloomy self (even though it wasn’t genuine, he can never stay mad at Niall) and the blonde’s back to his pouty mood. He wakes up and there’s a blindfold over his eyes, which was quite scary in Niall’s opinion because he just slept for god knows how long and then as soon as he opens his eyes he’s met with pitch black darkness. Niall almost had a heart attack because he thought Zayn might’ve gouged his eyes out or something.  
  
The blonde shrieks once he sits up his hands going up and wandering in front of him, the right restricted due to the metal chain but still, that didn’t stop Niall from freaking out.  


  
“O-Oh my god! What the – _shit_!” Niall begins to hyperventilate and Zayn watches from right next to him with wide eyes, immediately reaching over to grab his wrists and calm him down but it only makes Niall scream louder. “AAGH! Get away from me!” Zayn rolls his eyes, Niall weakly trying to pull away from his grip.   
  
People begin to stare at them and that’s when Zayn decided to take action. “Niall, Niall. Shh, it’s me.” He pulls Niall closer to him and whispers in his ear. The blonde freezes instantly and Zayn can see his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.   
  
“Z-Zayn?” The older boy nods before realising that Niall can’t see him. He hums lowly in response and Niall’s throat goes dry. “Have I gone blind?”  


  
Zayn lets out a chuckle and shakes his head. “No, baby, you’re just blindfolded. Don’t worry, I’m here.” As soon as Niall calms down, Zayn scowls at himself because he remembers he was supposed to be mad at him, which brings back his surprisingly accurate thoughts from earlier. It’s proving now that he literally _can’t_ stay mad at Niall. “Why am I blindfolded then?” The blonde wraps his hands around Zayn’s wrist, desperate not to get lost. “Because I have something to show you,” Niall nods and Zayn slowly unties the fabric with one hand. “This better be big, London boy, almost had a heart attack.”  
  
Zayn laughs a little in his ear, the fabric slowly falling from his eyes. “You’ll like it.”  
  
Niall blinks up at the structure in front of him, eyes scanning up and down at the familiar building. "This is.."  
  
"Yeah," Zayn nods coolly, back to his nonchalant, 'mad' self. "This is the pub where you were first spotted!" Niall remembers with a smile. "I was here drinking with Louis and the others but got tired of being ignored and walked out and – and I saw your poem on the wall.." The last part was whispered, the smile only growing at the memory. The blonde looks up at Zayn and grins with a slight blush.   
  
"My heart hurts, my heart aches. Without you, my heart breaks." Niall recites beautifully, taking Zayn's hand and leading him towards the back alley next to the pub. They stop right in front of the thing and stare up at the faded paint, it was obvious somebody tried to rub it off. There were other rude things scrawled around it meaning others have seen it and decided that it was stupid but no, it wasn't, to Niall it was the most beautifulest thing anybody could ever do. "Seems that people don't enjoy my sappiness." Zayn mutters, Niall lets out a sad laugh.   
  
"I do. I _love_ your sappiness," Zayn squeezes his hand at that, like Niall's approval was all he needed to continue (which was true). "And I love.." Zayn trails off, looking into Niall's eyes like he was getting lost and forgot what he was gonna say. He quickly recovers by saying, "Your accent."  
  
"My accent?"  
  
"Yeah, I really love ..your accent." Zayn grins. A gust of wind blows through the alley causing Niall to shudder, Zayn immediately tugging him into the warmth of the pub. "Come on, I have something to confess."  


  
—  


  
After Niall's seated comfortably in front of him, looking beautiful even though he was very confused at the sudden change of emotion. It's eleven o'clock at night and Zayn's getting pretty nervous, quite surprised as well by how time has passed so quickly. "So what did you want to tell me?" He takes a sip from his lemonade, that being the alternative to alcohol because Zayn was not fucking telling him everything while he was drunk, nope, he's seen that done in movies and it doesn't end it well.   
  
"I'm really sorry.."  
  
"I should be the one that's apologi–"  
  
"No! Niall, I meant for.. all this!" He gestures to the metal on their wrists. Niall stays silent. "I just.. when I first saw you, I thought you were – you were like _me_."  
  
"I don't have magic powers, Z," The blonde giggles, Zayn brushing his thumb over Niall's knuckles while he shook his head. "I meant that you looked so.. so bored. Tired, even. And I was feeling the exact same. Yeah, I can do this cool, black-smoke shit but so what? It's not that interesting, honestly. My whole life isn't that interesting." Niall looks at him with a pout, a pale hand holding the tanner one tightly. "I'm sorry,"  


  
"No. You shouldn't be sorry, Niall." He looks at Zayn weirdly for a moment before the older boy continues, "Because that's where you come in."  
  
"'Me?"  
  
"Yes, you." By now, his lemonade was forgotten and the only thing Niall was paying attention to was the way Zayn's mouth moved as he formed his words. "You made _everything_ better, you added colour to what was previously grey, you made me so much _happier_ – even though the way we met was not quite the way I had planned." Niall laughs but lets him continue.  
  
"Niall, I've watched you." Zayn hears the blonde mumble a "that's creepy" but he ignores it. "From the day you arrived to the day you were about to leave, I was just standing there, wishing, waiting. And now that you're stuck with me," he raises their wrists up. "Literally. I don't particularly want to let you go,"  
  
"Wait, what do you mean?" Niall asks curiously, both flattered and a little violated but he's sure there's an explanation.   


  
Zayn takes a gander at the people around them before taking Niall's hand and appearing right where he wants to be. Niall gasps a bit – he's still not used to it – before he looks at Zayn bemusedly. The atmosphere changing from warm and loud to silent and cold, snow gently flowing in the breeze.  
  
Zayn sighs, nodding towards the wall they're facing in hopes it would explain. Niall looks up at the colours while Zayn watches him, pink lips slowly curling up as he read the poem. 

_**"It’s amazing how I don’t even mind,** _   
_**The words you carelessly throw.** _   
_**No matter how hard, I’ve always pined,** _   
_**Yet you don’t even know."** _

  
There's a long stretching silence that merely consisted of Niall smiling at a blushing Zayn but it was then broken by the latter. "I just.. you mean a lot to me, yeah? And I really like you. I can't stay mad at you either."   
  
"So..all of those were for _me_?" He breathes out, amazed while the darker boy nods. "I fell in love while I watched, and you don't have to feel the same way! I just – I _had_ to tell you, I had to explain to you and it's been bugging me ever since this happened and I forgive you for what you said this morning and I really don't care if you don't feel the same because it's sorta impossible to fall in love with somebody you've known for a few days but right now, all I care about is.."   
  
"Is..?"  
  
"Well, I didn't really have a specific answer, I wasn't even planning to go this far. I thought you would've slapped me in the face, cut off your wrist and ran to the police claiming you were kidnapped. And butchered." Zayn smiles sheepishly and god, there's so much Niall wants to say but he's overwhelmed by it all.   
  
"Theres only one place I want to run to right now." Zayn looks at him with hope in his eyes, he deflates a little when he hears Niall's answer. "And that's home."  
  
Zayn looks away, embarrassed and a little pissed at himself thinking he just got rejected. "No, Zayn, don't you get it? Home is where the heart is right?" The darker nods glumly, Niall stepping closer to him so their foreheads touched. "And right now, my heart's with you. _You're_ my home, Zayn."  


  
His face lights up and his eyes crinkle to the extent where he just looks like a giddy puppy. Niall cups his cheek and presses their lips together in a sweet kiss that they've both been waiting for, only noticing now how much they truly craved it. It's slow at first, the two getting lost in their own little world, Zayn's hand holding Niall's while pale fingers caressed his face. The taller boy squeezes at Niall's hip with his other, bringing him even closer and savouring the sweet taste of Niall's lips as he licked into his mouth. The blonde sucks on his bottom lip, nibbles on it and licks over it soothingly. The two both silently agreeing that this was probably the highlight of their adventure.  
  
Zayn suddenly remembers where they are and he reluctantly pulls back, hearing the faint cheers of people below them. Niall furrows his brows and peeks over the edge of the short building, seeing people greet and hug each other cheerily, wishing each other a "merry christmas". Niall's eyes widen in realisation before he grins.   


 

"Merry Christmas, Zayn." He seals their lips together once more before Zayn pulls away, kissing the hair on his head and cuddling Niall into his chest.   


  
"Merry Christmas, snowflake."


	4. DAY FOUR: The Day You Became Mine

They wake up in each other's arms with a lazy smile and chaste morning kiss. A quiet whisper of "good morning, merry christmas" as they stared at each other, Niall feeling both content yet worried. Like always, Zayn could read him like a book.    


  
"You wanna go home still?" He asks, sounding a bit disappointed but with the way he looked at the blonde boy, it was like he understood. "It's just.. I really wanna stay here with you, but I have to go see my family, y'know?"  
  
The darker boy nods his head, a kiss pressed to Niall's lips as he smiles down at him. "I understand." His breath fanning over Niall's face. "So we're going to the airport today?"  
  
"No, no. Not today, _tomorrow_. Today is gonna be spent with you." Once he says that, Niall's body ignites with heat at the way Zayn smiled down at him. A look of pride, adoration and mischief gracing his defined features. "In that case, I have a great idea."  
  
"Should I be worried?" Zayn laughs, ruffling his hair. "Not at all."  


  
—

  
  
They suit up, prepared for the cold weather. Gloves and scarves on, Niall having to force Zayn to wear his because the blonde was certain he's gonna regret it later. ("You could always keep me warm.." "Shut up and put your gloves on.") Niall was quite excited for what Zayn had in store, earlier on as they got ready Zayn had asked him if he ever had a german sausage, perverted thoughts aside (Niall was actually gonna ask Zayn if he was german), the blonde began to get curious.   
  
"So when we leaving?" Niall asks while Zayn's tying up his shoe laces. "Right now," Niall's eyes widened. "What?"  
  
Zayn takes both Niall's hands and smiles widely. "You wanted a Christmas adventure, didn't you?" Niall's jaw drops, _how did he know?_ It's what he's been wishing for ever since he realised that he never did anything interesting here. "Yeah, but.."  
  
"Then I'm giving you one." He smirks, eyes drifting back and forth between Niall's blue irises, waiting for his reaction. The blonde chuckles, "Where are you taking me, Malik? Not gonna chuck me into a black van and drive away, are you?" Zayn laughs, fingers brushing with Niall's (which he proudly intertwined seconds afterwards), and placing a short kiss onto his lips.   
  
"Sadly, sweetheart, no. That's been deemed illegal, for some odd reason. They call it kidnap. Whatever that means," Zayn rolls his eyes, thumb tracing over the freckles on Niall's cheeks, watching in delight as his baby's eyes crinkled while he smiled. A questions pops into his head and it sends his mind in a flurry. _What are they?_ Zayn doesn't know, and Zayn doesn't want to ask in fear that whatever is happening between them isn't what he thinks it is. He's staring at Niall right now and he's lost, confused but thankful. He's fallen in love with such a beautiful, funny boy and he hopes the feeling's mutual, if not, he might just break. "Zayn?" A small voice snaps him from his thoughts, the sight of this walking angel in front of him was absolutely breathtaking.  
  
"You always do that," Niall mumbles, staring up into his eyes in amusement. "What?" The older finally mutters out, actually having the strength to speak to the real-life definition of beauty. "Stare at me. Like I'm some majestic creature, like a unicorn."  
  
"Baby, you're _way_ prettier than a unicorn." Niall wipes a fake tear from his eyes. "That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me."  
  
Zayn chuckles, tugging his wrists and kissing all over his face. "C'mon, I'm taking you on a date." He whispers against Niall's lips, making him shiver slightly as his tongue brushed the blonde's own. "Where to?"   
  
"Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park."  
  
There's a poof of black smoke, the loud slicing of air before the couple appear at the entrance. Niall was the first one to gasp, seeing the bright lights and large rides in front of him making his jaw drop in awe. There was a lot of people though, which the blonde was momentarily worried about. However, Zayn was smart and made sure Niall was close by and comfortable. Winter Wonderland was a fair, games to win, rides to scream at, pictures to take and food to eat. It was packed with people and the couple did nothing but wander around for a few minutes, Niall just gaping at the whole thing, wordlessly amazed. 

  
"C'mon, Nialler, what do you wanna go on first?" Zayn tugs his finger excitedly, the blonde merely shrugs, looking far more interested in the waffles that these people were selling than going on actually any rides at all. "We can eat later, baby." The older breathily chuckles, pulling Niall towards him. Niall stares longingly at the chocolate covered waffle the little girl was eating before his eyes landed back on Zayn's piercing hazel. His mind did a 180 and he immediately grinned, "Let's go buy some tokens!"  
  
Zayn tries to act like he didn't do anything.   


  
—  


  
They didn't have much money on them, due to Niall saying he wants to save it for food and Zayn had agreed, though really he was saving it for something else. "Look how huge it is, Z!" Niall gestures to the giant observational wheel. The darker smirks knowingly, nodding his head in agreement before leading Niall towards Ice Mountain. They decided that they should only go on one ride so they can save their money for important things, _like that huge ass wheel,_ Zayn adds as an afterthought.   
  
The wait was long and if Zayn was honest, he was doubting whether this ride was gonna be a good one or not. The exterior didn't really give much away apart from a short drop in the front but Niall seemed pretty excited, so he tried not to be a pain and dampen the blonde's mood. Once they got inside the cart, Zayn convinced the guy mentally to just let them be by themselves, and surprisingly it worked, the man locked the metal bar over their heads and sent them off. The Bradford native's previously negative thoughts were long forgotten because once you got inside, it was hell of a lot more than a small drop. Later on they saw their picture and both laughed at their reactions, Niall immediately buying it as a souvenir. They were holding hands of course, Zayn holding Niall's a little bit tighter because clearly he wasn't a fan of roller coasters (even if they were small).  
  
"You were scared weren't you!" Niall accused with a giggle, poking at Zayn's tummy. "I was _not_.” He denied but Niall saw straight through him. “Yes you were! You were holding on to me so tightly, and look at your face!” A loud laugh escapes his lips as he points at the photo.   
  
“You look like you’re about to shit yourself!” That causes the older boy to roll his eyes, playfully annoyed. “Thanks, Nialler. That was _so nice_ of you.”  
  
“Aren’t I a delight?” Zayn smirks. “Yeah. Yeah you are.”  Niall tries not to blush at the adoration in his voice. He fails.

  
–   


  
They go play some games afterwards, Zayn acting all confident and trying to knock the stack of cans over so he can get that mother fucking stuffed bear for Niall but he kept failing, and the giggling coming from both Niall and a few girls were not helping his already flushed cheeks. Zayn slaps another £5 note on the wood for the third time. “Again! Come on gimme more balls.” He yells, nose scrunching up at how wrong it sounded. The guy running the stand looked quite scared and concerned for him, Niall feels the same.   
  
“Ugh, Zayn? It’s just a game, y’know. Don’t get all crazy,” Niall was a little too late because Zayn had already thrown four balls, three cans left, two at the bottom and one stacked on top. “No. I have to win this thing.” Niall fears that Zayn may have lost it and takes the ball out of his hands, “Why don’t I give it a go?”  
  
Zayn looks hesitant but steps back, hand holding Niall’s (they were still cuffed and they’ve kinda gotten used to it now), his head hanging low in shame. His eyes focus on the ground for a minute, pouting slightly because he’s just making a fool of himself. He knew these games were rigged and a waste of money, he probably doesn’t have enough to go on the huge wheel now. His vision is obstructed by a big fluffy white, Zayn crinkling his nose and looking up to see Niall practically glowing. “We won!” He cheers.  
  
Zayn stares down at the stuffed animal and grins, laughing to himself at the fact that Niall won with ease. “Where to next?” The blonde eagerly asks, skipping along in front of him, fingers laced.   
  
“Was thinking we could go and get some food?” Time flew by quickly, they only got here at five, they had two hours left until closing time. Zayn thinks it’s because he wasted his time on that stupid game and waiting in the line for that roller coaster. They might as well eat before Zayn tells him what he brought him here for. Niall probably already knew, but Zayn just wanted to remind him.  


  
–  


  
They eat peacefully on a bench, Niall snuggled up in Zayn’s chest because it was freezing outside and they didn’t have jackets on. Surprisingly, Zayn was really warm and Niall made sure to use him as his personal radiator. He’s the best radiator ever.  
  
Niall munches on the sausage happily whilst Zayn drinks his lemonade, they revel in each other's warmth (mostly Zayn's) while switching. Niall lifts the bun so Zayn can take a bite and Zayn raises the glass to Niall's lips so he can have a sip as well. A content sigh escapes Zayn's lips as he stares at the ice rink nearby, maybe that could be the alternative to his ferris wheel idea.   
  
"Niall?" He turns to the blonde boy. "Do you wanna go ice skating?" Niall chokes on the german sausage he stuffed his mouth with before nodding eagerly.   
  
Zayn smirks, _ice skating it is._  


  
—  


  
Yeah, this is _not_ what he expected. Niall was a pro at it already, spinning in circles and zooming past other people while laughing hysterically. Zayn uncomfortably gliding right next to him with buckled knees. He swears down that he's gonna fall flat on his face and embarrass himself, or maybe not even on the ice rink. Either way, he knows he's gonna embarrass himself somehow by the end of tonight.   
  
When their hour is nearly done, he squeezes Niall's hand and pulls him closer to his body. "Niall,"   
  
The blonde looks up at him, humming in response. "You do know that.. I, y'know,"  
  
"You what?" Niall furrows his brows, sliding slower on the ice so he can pay attention to Zayn.   
  
It's now or never. "That I love you." Blue eyes widen before pale cheeks flush and dimples begin to show. "R-Really?" Zayn nods confidently, "Yes. I do," God, he so badly wanted to say that in church in front of his friends and relatives. (He remembers he has none but it still doesn't kill the point of marrying Niall)  
  
The blonde then gulps and wets his lips. "Zayn, I'm really sorry b-but.." He does love Zayn, he knows it and he'll admit it right here right now if he could, but he can't. "You don't love me?" Niall's heart split in two at the look on Zayn's face.    
  
"N-No! I-I do.. I just can't.. say it, yet." He doesn't know why, but he's never said those words before. Not to his parents, not to his friends. He's just had a strong difficulty putting the words in his mouth, his lips just couldn't form it. Zayn nods his head, a little disappointed but it doesn't stop him from leaning down and kissing Niall straight on the lips, he understands. They leave thirty minutes later, Zayn feeling a bit teary-eyed as negative thoughts consumed him.   
  
He forces a smile anyway, telling Niall he wanted to go to one more place before they leave the fair entirely.   
  
—  
  
Zayn asks Niall to wear a blindfold the whole time he sprayed. He couldn't uncuff himself though, which was the only downside but he still got to greet his baby.   


  
_We've been throughso much shit together,_

_But yet, you always smile._

_I hope we stay like this forever._

_Merry Christmas, Niall._

 

  
Of course, they teared up, looking at the wall with quivering lips because Zayn can feel in his gut that something about tomorrow was gonna mean a hell of a lot more than they both expected. "Zayn, why are you crying?"   
  
"I'm not crying." Niall gives him a look before he smiles through his bloodshot eyes. "It's just, we're gonna get separated soon, aren't we? And you're gonna go home and you're gonna forget about me a-and," — he swallows down a sob — "I just don't want you to leave without knowing that you're, or once were, mine."   
  
Niall laughs, eyes tearing up a bit as well. "If you've forgotten, we're kinda stuck together. So there's now way I'm leaving without you, you idiot." He chuckles, their noses rubbing against each other. "And who says I wasn't already yours?"  
  
Zayn's eyes light up and he kisses the blonde boy furiously, practically ridding him of oxygen. He pulls away, both boys with equally swollen lips and he sighs. "Y-You're mine?" He sounded so small and fragile.   
  
"If you ask nicely." Was his reply, to which Zayn rolled his eyes to. "Niall Horan, will you be mine? Even if we're eventually separated, I don't give a flying shit because I still would have had the pleasure of knowing you once were."   
  
"I'm yours. Even after we split up, I always will be."  
  
"We won't split up, let's not say that, yeah? Let's just say.. nothing. Let's just not talk about it, okay?" Niall nods his head, surging forward to give Zayn one final kiss, his cheeks aching with how wide he was smiling.   


  
It was official. 

 

**_Best Christmas ever._ **


	5. DAY FIVE: The Day That Was Our Last

**__** **_Boxing Day_ **

  
"Zayn," something pokes at his stomach. The tanned boy shuffles in his sleep, hearing the tinkling of chains. "Zaynnnn," the same voice whispers again, Zayn refuses to open his eyes so instead he grunts in reply. 

"I need to take a piss! Sorry, Z." he wets his lips and tugs on his boyfriend's arm. Is he even allowed to call Zayn that? They did make it official last night, and they did get pretty teary-eyed as well. Niall wonders what it would be like if they got married. 

"Alright, let's go." Zayn yawns, standing up with his eyes closed, Niall following suit. "What.. time is it?" He croaks tiredly, morning voice deeper than usual, raspy as well. Niall shrugs, looking around and seeing his backpack lying on the floor near Zayn's wardrobe, he walks over, Zayn following, and bends down to pick it up. Once he finds his phone he clicks the button and squints, the light blinding him for a second. "Jesus christ, it's afternoon!"

"N-Niall, what?"

"I know right? It's like 2:30 right now!"

"Niall, that's not what I mean, y-you have a phone.." Zayn gulps in realisation, this is his ticket home. A few clicks of a button and Niall would be connected to his parents immediately. 

 

 

It seems that it's already begun.   


 

  
"Y-You're right! Look, me Mum's texted me! A-And so has Dad! Greg, too.." Zayn doesn't think he's seen Niall smile so big. Zayn forces his lips to curl up just the slightest bit as he sighs. 

"You can go home," he says and he honestly didn't mean for it to sound so disappointed. Niall sensed this, his arm falling limp against his side as he looked up at the taller boy with a sad smile. “We’re not splitting up remember? I’m gonna go home, and you’re gonna come with me.”

Zayn’s lips quirk up and he nods his head, feeling a little warm inside when Niall leans up to kiss him. “You’re forgetting one thing, how exactly are we gonna get to Ireland?” Niall frowns, lifting the device back up in front of his face, his fingers move across the screen for a few minutes or so before chuckling, a smile playing at his lips. 

“I don’t think we need to worry, Z,” he chuckles, showing Zayn his texts. The darker boy takes the phone from his hands and began scrolling down.  


 

>   
> **Niall:**   _mama i missed you !!_
> 
> **Mama <3:**  _Niall are you alright? Are you hurt ?_
> 
> **Niall:**   _mama am fine ok ,, i got caught up with things and i need to find out how to get back home :( Help!_
> 
> **Mama <3:** _It’s alright, you’re sorted! One ticket from London to Mullingar, right?_
> 
> **Niall:**   _no mama i need another ticket , my boyfriends kindaa stuck with meee ... ??_
> 
> **Mama <3:**  _Boyfriend?_
> 
> **Niall:**   _yeh. Is there anywayy we can get anotha tickettt ??_
> 
> **Mama <3:**  _Sean’s Uncle works at the London City Airport, I’ll give you his number and you might be able to sort something out._  
>  **Mama <3:**  _Wish you luck. #+44–XXXX–XXXXX_
> 
> **Niall:**   _can you do it instead momma pls,i dont wana talk_
> 
> **Mama <3:**  _Fine._
> 
> **Niall:**   _love you mama_
> 
> **Mama <3:**  _DONE. You leave tomorrow, tell your boyfriend I can’t wait to meet him._

 

  
Zayn smirks throughout the whole conversation. Looking over to the blonde boy with an approving nod. “I can’t wait to meet your mother.”

Niall grins, taking it back into his pocket and hugging Zayn with one arm. He nuzzles his nose into the other boy's neck with giggle of disbelief. "They care, Zaynie. They were worried about me," He sounded so happy and so shocked, their fingers lacing and Zayn giving him that soft squeeze, their palms pressed together. "That's wonderful, baby.. they miss you." He whispers and it's probably the most comfortable position they've ever been in. Even if they are  _still_  in handcuffs. 

Niall ran his free hand through his hair, pulling away. "We gotta call that guy first, let's not get ahead of ourselves.."

"Then go ahead." 

"What if we only get a ticket for me? Then how are things gonna –"

"Niall baby, shh, okay? There's only one way to find out, yeah? Call the guy," he soothes the blonde, who looked absolutely horrified at the idea. "Why do you look so scared, snowflake? You're going home, we're leaving together, right?" The roles switched and now it was Niall who was worrying, bottom lip slightly quivering but Zayn didn't understand why. He just assumed it was because of him. 

But it wasn't. Niall was upset about his family. What if once he returns, everything's back to the way it was before? Niall being ignored and not cared about. Being locked in his room all alone and doing nothing but wishing for something,  _anything_. He doesn't want to go back to that. 

"Niall?" Zayn's voice was the only thing that had the ability to calm him, to make him forget, even if it was just for a moment. "I'm fine," He answers, knowing already what he was going to ask.

  
–  


 

“Hello?”

_“Hello, I’m assuming this is Niall?”_

“Hi, um – yeah, it is. How did you know?”

_“Maura contacted me before hand, my name’s Cormick. M’Sean’s uncle, yeah?”_

“Well, nice to hear you, sir. Has my mother told you about my... problem?”

_“Yes she has, and I’m very happy to tell you that I’ve managed to snag you two seats on the next trip to Mullingar! Gave me quite a surprise when I was told, call it a Christmas Miracle if you will.”_

“Christmas finished yesterday, but thank you so much! How did you manage to find some?”

_“Don’t question miracles, lad. Even I don’t know how it happened. All I can say is that you’re very lucky,”_

“Thank you, really. Thanks so much, I –  _wow_. I don’t know what to say, thank you so much.”

_“The flight's at noon, I'll give you your tickets by the entrance, kay. It's no bother! One of the perks of working at the airport, I guess?”_

“Oh yeah, what  _is_  your job?”

_“Let’s just say that.. I was the first to witness you and your boyfriend meet.”_

“W-What?”   


 

  
Then the line went dead.  


 

—

 

  
"So this means that.. today's our last day? Here? In London?" Zayn frowned, he's grown attach to the city. This is where everything started. Where he lived, how he first saw the love of his life; he's permanently marked the city with his love for the blonde boy, his feelings scrawled upon the walls of many landmarks. To just get up and leave like that, he does't know how to feel about it. He's eager to run away with Niall, he'd accept in a heartbeat. But right now, Zayn's beginning to have negative thoughts. "Seems like it, yeah."

Zayn's chin's resting on his shoulder, stubble lightly grazing the blonde's cheek and sort of tickling him. "I'm gonna miss this place." He whispers, Niall smiling into his neck and nodding in agreement. "Me too,"

"I'm gonna miss how you beautiful you look sleeping while I did my stuff on the wall." Niall chuckles, shaking his head fondly and pulling back with furrowed brows. "I'm still amazed how you did that while I was there, you never told me,"

Zayn bites his lip, eyes bouncing from both of Niall's blue ones and he stops for a second and smiles. He gets lost in them just like the first day they met. He doesn't answer though, he just shakes his head. Once his mouth opens, Niall kisses his lips to stop him. "If you're gonna say it's magic again then I really don't want to hear it, might just yank my head off."

The darker boy makes a face, disgusted at the image. "Ergh. Headless is a deal breaker."

"Are you saying you wouldn't love me just because I didn't have a head? I'm  _appalled_  at your shallowness, Mr. Malik. Truly  _repulsed_." Zayn grins, pressing a kiss to his lips and letting his uncuffed hand run freely through Niall's hair, soft as ever and slightly wet from snow. "Sorry, sunshine, but I kinda like kissing my boyfriend, so." He laughs with his teeth in display and his eyes crinkly. It's kinda like how Zayn laughs, only when he laughs his tongue presses to the back of his teeth and it's the cutest thing Niall's ever seen.

They're both pretty different. Niall's all smiles, energy and sunshine whilst Zayn's all calm, relaxed and quiet; always thinking and not saying his thoughts aloud, unlike Niall, who speaks what he truly wants. 

"What do you wanna do on our very last day?" Niall asks, and really, Zayn wants to answer something interesting like go ride a boat or maybe steal the queen's crown jewels (he wouldn't really do that), but instead, he just smiles, doing the nipple thing him and Niall do and pulling him into his chest. "I wanna spend it with you."  


 

–    


And he does spend it with Niall. He makes sure Niall's seen everything beautiful in London, flashing him to the top of Buckingham Palace so Niall knows what it's like to be a princess ("Zayn, I'm not royalty, stop staring at me like I own this palace." "In my eyes, you are."), taking him into one of the pods inside the London Eye ("Z, they're gonna notice us. They will," Zayn shook his head and kissed him sweetly. The people already in the pod did  _not_  notice them, to Niall's confusion, he didn't understand why though. Zayn did, but he still hasn't told Niall about that little secret yet.), and he even dragged Niall under a forgotten mistletoe because he "never got to do it at Christmas."

The night was quickly approaching, the two spent their minutes running from police and kissing languidly behind every corner, some people recognising the two and looking as if they were about to run off and tell the cops but they too witnessed the couple's love and refused to intervene, because if they did, it'd feel like a crime.

Zayn was on the news again, along with his scrawny accomplice, ("I am not fucking scrawny!"), and it was thought that the poems he did for Niall were coded, with some hidden meaning; Niall had never laughed so hard. Needless to say, they're still being hunted, by the police, and may be fined and imprisoned for vandalism and avoiding arrest. Niall had laughed hysterically and cackled at the telly, making faces at it while singing "you're not gonna catch us 'cause it's our last day!", the people around them raised their eyebrows but avoided getting involved. 

All hilarity aside, they had watched the sun set on top of the Royal Albert Hall and the moon appear through the dark sky while trying not to fall off the spiky things that were sticking out of the O2 arena, Zayn thought it would be cool, and Niall isn't afraid of heights anymore. 

Zayn also thought it would be cool if they sneak into Buckingham Palace once more to see what happens inside, Niall was hesitant, but once Zayn gave him this look while batting his eyelashes, he nodded reluctantly. That trip didn't go so well. They giggled too loudly and they may have met the queen, in the most  _ungraceful_  way.   


 

  
It was eleven minutes until twelve and the two sat peacefully on a thin blanket over the faded snow. It's stopped now, to the couple's delight and it's basically just frost at the moment, but it wasn't too cold. 

They stared at the stars with content sighs and white fog leaving their lips. Today was a _very_  good day. The past few days were days that Niall will forever remember and meeting Zayn was a time he'll never forget, Zayn's given him what he's wanted all along and he can't think of anything better. 

Looking at Zayn right now gave him enough happiness than he's had in years and that says a lot about his life. The older boy looked so beautiful, long lashes framing piercing gold, perfect pouted lips and a sharp jaw and cheekbones as well. Niall thinks its safe to say that he's stumbled upon the most beautifulest man on earth. 

"Now you're the one staring at me," Zayn chuckles, eyes falling on Niall's electric blue, looking even brighter under the moonlight. "I guess you could say we're just equally mesmerised by each other." 

"Yeah, I guess you could." Zayn bites his lip with a small smile, he reaches over and presses their palms together, whispering quietly into his ear, "I love you." Niall smiles warmly at him, feeling a bit upset because he still doesn't feel that it's the right time to say it. The moment just doesn't seem perfect.   


 

  
"Zayn.."

"It's okay, angel, you don't have to say it right now. I just want you to  _know_ ," Niall nods his head, chuckling sadly at himself because god, Zayn just enjoys making him emotional. 

"Great, more tears! Thanks, Zayn. Really," it sounds fonder than it's supposed to be because Niall truly means it, thanks to Zayn, he's, well, happier. 

The older smiles, "No problem, babe." And the way Niall flushes straight afterwards, he takes as another way of saying, "I love you too".

 

(As they cuddle each other on the roof of The Gherkin, Zayn laughs when he realises that what they did today was way better than a shitty boat ride.)


	6. DAY SIX: The Day We Left Together

**_27 December_ **

 

The two wake up at ten so they could pack and that's when Niall realises.   
  
" _Holy shit_ , I left my suitcase!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"On my flight back to Ireland, when you bumped into me! My luggage was on the plane!" Zayn's eyes widen with guilt and he immediately mutters apologies into the blonde's ear, thinking that Niall was mad at him but instead, the boy laughs. "Why are you apologising?"  
  
"Because your personal belongings are somewhere in an Irish airport."  
  
"They're just clothes, Z, I'll be fine." Zayn doesn't believe him. "No, seriously, I mean it. I'd rather crash into you than keep all that cheap stuff."   
  
"Awww.. you're such a cutie." He pinches the younger boy's cheeks, hands moving lower so they held his chin. Zayn doesn't know why, but he's kinda obsessed with his chin. It's so cute and soft, hairless with a little dimple on it as well. "Stop staring lovingly at my chin dimple."  
  
"I can't help it, it's just as pretty as you."  
  
"Zayn, it's a chin dimple. There's nothing pretty about it," he laughs breathlessly, blue eyes lighting up at the sight of his boyfriend. "It's pretty to me. Now shut up, we have to pack," The blonde gestures to his backpack laying on the floor in the corner, untouched from the day they met. "Done."  
  
"At least help me with mine," the older boy whines with a pout, arm stretching out in the direction of his backpack laying on top of the desk, open and half full. "It looks packed to me," Niall raises an eyebrow.   
  
"Yeah but.. what about clothes?"  
  
"You can borrow some of mine when we get there, I really can't be arsed to drag a huge ass suitcase, Z. Just carry a backpack, okay?" The darker's lips curl into a smile, nodding his head and ducking his head to kiss Niall on the lips.  


—  


  
They arrive at the airport at 11:30, meeting Cormick at the entrance. He looks nothing like Niall expected, he sounded like a sailor on the phone. He was wearing a dirty old t-shirt with mud stains on them, ripped jeans that were definitely not ripped for fashion on his meaty legs. Round face with a grey beard and a cheeky grin playing on his features. He winks at the two as he hands them the tickets and _yeah_ , he's a _bit_ creepy. Though Niall thinks he really shouldn't be saying that about the guy who got them tickets to a supposedly full plane. 

They're standing by a few shops, not doing anything really, just looking around and waiting, Zayn familiarising himself as he looked around.

Niall's mother hasn't texted, neither has his dad or Greg and it's almost like his phone just shut off completely. Niall wonders if it's because he's coming back that they've stopped caring.   
  
Like the good boyfriend he is, Zayn swoops in and kisses Niall's worries away. It was enough to calm him for now. "Don't worry, okay, Ni?" Zayn assured him with finger under his chin, "Maybe they're already waiting at the airport so as soon as we land, they get to see you." Niall would like to retort by saying that if they were so excited, they'd text but Zayn had shut him up with a deep kiss, he drew back seconds later and pulled Niall into his chest.   
  
They kinda just stood there, Niall's fingers fitting in the gaps of Zayn's own while the older boy nosed at Niall's cheek, pressing soft kisses all over his face before stopping on his forehead. Niall feels him lean in for one last peck but then he stops. The blonde frowns, "Zayn?" He looks up, seeing Zayn with his jaw clenched, adam's apple bobbing up and down as he stares past Niall's head.

Niall bites his lip and follows Zayn'a gaze by looking over his shoulder, he doesn't see anything apart from a lady. Said lady was jogging away, seemingly have noticed that she captured their attention. She seemed pretty much in a hurry as well and it made Niall wonder what happened before she ran, it seemed like Zayn knew. But he wasn't going to talk about it. "Let's go wait for our plane, okay?"  
  
Niall nods and for a second he catches Cormick staring at the two as they walked away, he bared a disappointed look but he's disappearing too quickly. The blonde gulps, he doesn't feel right. 

  
—

  
The gates already open but the couple get caught up at the panini shop where they first met, Zayn seeming more eager than Niall to just stay and stare at the shop with a longing look. "Zayn, come on, you're not gonna make me miss my flight again." He chuckles and when Zayn doesn't smile back, he knows something's wrong.   
  
"Baby, let's go." Niall tugs him along, whatever Zayn's worried about now, he's sure he can tell the blonde later. Niall smiles, they'll talk once they're safe on the plane, he decides mentally.

—

They arrive at the outside of their gate with only a few minutes to spare and they're about to go in but then Zayn stops him, pulls Niall back and kisses him desperately on the lips, hands cupping his cheeks and pulling him close. "Niall, I love you. You know that right?"  
  
"Yeah, I know. W-What's wrong, Z? You're scaring me.." And scared he was, Zayn doesn't think he's ever seen Niall look this frightened before. "I love you and I want you to be happy, okay?" Blue eyes water instantly.  
  
"Zayn, what–"  
  
"He's around here somewhere!" _Right on time_ , Zayn thinks, sighing sadly. He gives Niall his backpack to hold as he quickly searches his pockets. Niall's jaw drops at the familiar sound of heavy boots hitting the floor, lip beginning to quiver in realisation as Zayn whips out a silver key from his back pocket. "Y-You found the key?"   
  
"I never lost it." He smiles, tears forming behind liquid gold. He quickly unlocks Niall and once the pale wrist is free, Niall surges forward, using both of his hands to grab Zayn's face and kiss him straight on the lips. They pull away when they hear another shout: "THERE HE IS!"  
  
Niall pulls back and shakes his head. "No, no.. Zayn, you – you _can't_ , you _won't_. You said we'd leave together and – no.." Niall breaks down in unbelievable whimpers, voice croaky as the tanned boy takes his hands in his, Zayn's backpack slung over his shoulder. "Shh, shh, baby." Niall can see them coming closer and he mentally thanks the amount of people blocking the policemen. "Y-You wanted an adventure, right? You wanted to have a _Christmas_ adventure, to have fun a-and I gave you it, right? I made you happy,"  
  
"Y-You did Zayn, you gave me that and s-so much more.."  
  
"Shh, snowflake, let me speak." Niall nods his head, feeling tears fall down his cheeks as he stares up at Zayn with a look that practically broke the other boy's heart. "I just – the moment I saw you." Zayn gulps. "I _knew_ , I knew you would mean a lot to me, and I was right. B-But now you have to go–"  
  
"No. No, Zayn, _no_ , please – _please_ , don't do this.."  
  
"You _have_ to go, Niall. You're parents are waiting, your mother, dad, Greg. They're gonna be so happy to see you, I know it." Niall ignores the shouts of the police getting closer, he wasn't even bothered about the obvious indents in his wrist from being cuffed because Zayn is here and god, _why_ is this happening to _him_?  
  
"I-I want to thank you. For doing this with me, giving me the best christmas ever and for being mine even though it only lasted a night or two. For just.. for being my _christmas miracle._ "  
  
"You're mine, too, Zayn.. I – don't leave.." The darker boy shakes his head. "I don't want you to go to jail with me, wouldn't be a very good second date, don't ya think?" He jokes and it's enough to make Niall crack a small smile.   
  
"I don't care I just.. I wanna be with you." This is fucking ridiculous, why was he feeling so much for this guy? He met him not even a week ago and yet, Niall's a crying mess. Why does Zayn have to mean so much. "I'll never forget you, sunshine. I love you, so much." He kisses Niall's lips one more time except this time, it was gentle, soft and just a mere touch of their lips. Niall could feel wet tears on his own cheeks that were probably a mixture of Zayn's as well.   
  
This was it.

This is the moment, it _has_ to be. 

Niall opens his mouth; he's ready to say it. 

"MALIK!" 

But then Zayn's running away, the previous warmth slipping from Niall's finger tips and disappearing. A raw sob rips out from Niall's throat and he wants the ground to fucking swallow him, the loud boots stop right in front of him and all Niall wants to say is _leave me alone_. Sadly, his throat was aching with the words he should have said.  
  
"Sir, are you okay? Has Malik hurt you?" Niall nods and shakes his head, wiping the tears from his eyes and once his vision clears, the man in front of him gasps.   
  
"You're his blonde, scrawny accomplice.." Niall's lips quirk up and he nods sadly, biting his lip. "I g-guess I am," he looks behind him and sees the lady ushering for him to get into the plane. Niall looks back up at the man, his moustache moving in a weird way as he nibbled on his bottom lip; debating whether he should arrest him or not. "Y-You not gonna ta-take me away?"  
  
He shakes his head, his other men already gone to look for the teleporter and the older man just sighs. "Get into the plane, kid. Go home,"   
  
Niall walks inside his gate, his chest heavy while the policeman walked next to him. "I am home," he mutters but the man ignores him, gesturing to the lady and telling Niall to give her his ticket. The blonde nods sullenly, giving her his ticket and as soon as he gets it back he start to walk inside but the man with the moustache stops him.   
  
"Are you sure Malik hasn't done anything to you? Hurt you in anyway? Stolen anything?"  
  
"Stolen?"  
  
"Yeah, like, taken anything from you." Niall nods his head and his shoulder begin to shake once more. "If it counts.." He begins, pausing so he could stop himself from crying. "If it counts; my heart."

The man's eyes widen before he gulps visibly, the woman next to him sharing the same expression before Niall turns around, walking into the plane with a sore throat, and a sore chest. 

  
  
  
Nothing but regret filling his mind because the last thing Zayn had said was "I love you".  
  
  
And Niall never said it back.


	7. DAY SEVEN: The Day You Left Without Me

**_28th December_ **

 

 

  
Niall sits in his seat with a frown, sniffling every twenty seconds (he'd been counting) while trying to ignore the vacant seat next to him. His wrist burns but at the same time, so does his fucking heart because Zayn's just capable of doing that shit to him,  _asshole_. Niall's not mad at him though. 

How could he? Zayn only wanted him to be happy. Which looking at it now is pretty stupid because right now he's a lot of things but he is not happy.

Angry?  _Yes._

Sad?  _Yes._

Hurt?  _Yes._

Confused?  _Yes._

Happy?  _Fucking hell no._

He wants to ask Zayn a lot of questions. For starters, why he ever came into Niall's life if all he's ever gonna do is leave. Why he fucking made Niall feel all these stupid, fluttery feelings and then said they weren't going to split up but then, like mentioned before, fucking _leaves._  

Niall leans his head on the window while staring out at the clouds. He's trying so hard to ignore, well, everything, really. But it doesn't help because Zayn's practically tattooed himself inside Niall's head and he can't stop thinking about it. Memories of their time together kept flashing through his head. The first time they met, how Niall was being totally annoying and eager to get home and Zayn was just chill and _god_ , Niall's heart flutters when he remembers how cheeky he was.

 

_"I would tell you my name but I feel that you’d just tell the police back there,"_

_"At this point, I honestly don’t give a shit what you’re called. I just want to go home. Hurry and go find that key.”_

_"Hmm, with an attitude like that maybe I don’t want to let you go."_

 

The second day, when Niall experienced Zayn's piercing stares. 

 

_"Why do you always stare at me?" Niall decides to ask. He bites his lip when he receives the same silence._

_"Z-Zayn?" He mutters when he notice the boy’s face closer than usual._

_"You’re so different," he breathes against Niall’s lips. “I’ve never met anybody like you before.”_  

 

The third day, where they had their first argument but Zayn, even though he was mad, still cared about him. 

 

_"Harry?" The brunette’s eyes widened, a frown on his face and Niall immediately regrets it, turning around and wishing that he never called out to him in the first place._

_"Niall?"_

_The blonde leans into Zayn’s protective embrace, hiding his head in the crook of Zayn’s neck, arms folded over his chest._

_"We’ll get off at the next stop." Zayn whispers in his ear._  

 

The fourth day, where they had their first(?) date. It lasted a full day and it was the absolute  _best christmas ever_.

 

_"You were scared weren’t you!" Niall accused with a giggle, poking at Zayn’s tummy. "I was not.”_

 

 

The fifth day. The day that was their last.

_“If you’re gonna say it’s magic again then I really don’t want to hear it, might just yank my head off.”_

  _“Ergh. Headless is a deal breaker.”_

_"Are you saying you wouldn’t love me just because I didn’t have a head? I’m **appalled**  at your shallowness, Mr. Malik. Truly  **repulsed**.” _

_“Sorry, sunshine, but I kinda like kissing my boyfriend, so.”_

 

Niall suddenly wishes that he got to taste every bit of Zayn before he left, he wishes he got to experience everything with him despite being with him for only five days.  _If only_ , Niall thinks. 

What makes things even harder is the fact that Zayn left his backpack with Niall. So now Niall has all these Zayn-smelling items that he really doesn't need right now. His own backpack is stuffed under his seat while Zayn's is laying in his lap, Niall absentmindedly stroking it, which might actually look pretty creepy to some people but he can't help it. It's oddly soothing.

His fingers wander towards the zipper and he freezes once he touches the metal. A part of him wants to and another part of him says its a bad idea, the first part's slightly bigger so he slowly begins to unzip it, hearing his heart pound in his ears. 

"Mind if I sit here?" he jumps at the voice, and accidentally kicks the chair in front of him. "Ow!" Somebody squawks.  

"Sorry, sorry.." He mumbles, the older man seeming to have awoken from his sleep. Niall smiles apologetically even though the stranger can't see him before he turns to the woman sitting in Zayn's seat, despite her question just a mere few seconds ago. "Um, that seat.." He points timidly.

"Oh, is somebody sitting here? I was informed that it was empty. Do you want me to move?" She was a lady at her forties, Niall assumes. Brunette hair with slightly grey strands and a round face with a wrinkly grin. She wore a pink cardigan over a blue buttoned shirt and grey jeans and she stares at him with both concern and disappointment. Niall shakes his head, "No, no. You can stay," he doesn't bother saying anymore, just turns to look at the clouds outside the window. 

 

  
He just couldn't wait to get off this stinking plane and see his family, friends, anybody that will help him forget. "Wassamatter?"  _Ah, an Irish woman_ , Niall thinks. He just shrugs his shoulders while muttering an incoherent reply. 

The lady smiles. "I'm guessing it has something to do with whoever was supposed to sit here." Niall bobs his head, an accidental pout forming on his lips at the thought of him. "Well, I'm sorry for takin' the seat. One of the members of the cabin crew said that there was a vacant seat available because my other one was quite.. well, I couldn't breathe."

"Oh, you're claustrophobic?

"Well, that's what I told her. The real reason was that grandpa next to me was fuckin' sprayin' gas within every turbulence. Didn't like the idea of breathing through my mouth so.." She grins, making small jazz hands. "Here I am." Niall lets out a quiet laugh at that, the women reminding him of his mother in a way. 

"So. Care to tell me why you looked so upset? I'm here to listen." She's still smiling but Niall really doesn't wanna talk about it to a complete stranger. "I don't even know your name," he chuckles. 

"Call me Fay, what's it gonna take for you to open up to me?" Niall frowns,  _what a nosy bitch_ , he thinks but as soon as he thinks that her jaw drops. "I am not a nosy – okay,  _fine_. I don't even need to know what happened anyway," and suddenly, she doesn't sound like a kind forty-year old lady. 

"Can you please leave me alone? I don't want to talk about it and –  _how the fuck do you know_ what I'm thinking!" He gapes at her, eyes wide and body angled away from her. 

She smirks and for some odd reason, the wrinkles on her face lessen. "Niall Horan, just turned 20, born September 13, 1993 at exactly 8:15am, 121 days younger than boyfriend, Zayn Malik. Who is currently.. back in London." Her voice quietens after that, a sad smile gracing her features. Niall refuses to look at her, stares out the window even though he was so obviously affected by her words. 

 

  
"Don't worry, okay?" She says and Niall snorts at how stupid it sounds. How can he  _not_  worry? It's impossible. He plays with the zipper of the backpack in his hands and pulls it up and down, the silence filled with zipping noises. Niall wonders how the people sitting around him feel. "Hey, you can talk to me.."

"I don't even know who you are.." He chuckles a bit, she laughs with him and smiles. "You don't need to. Just talk."

"About what?"

She stays silent for a moment before playing with the charm on her bracelet. "Tell me how you feel. About Zayn,"

"Well, I.. I dunno, I really like him. He means a lot to me," She rolls her eyes. " _Just_  like? I doubt it." She seemed to get younger the more she spoke about Niall and Zayn, the blonde tries to ignore it but it was quite difficult when this woman's skin is getting smoother and bronzer, green eyes lighting up. 

"Well, he said he loved me before he left. But I never.. I never really got to say it back."

"But you do love him, right?" Niall briefly nods, he won't deny that. "Good." She smirks, letting go of the charms and resting her head against the chair. 

"Why are you so curious? And how do you know everything?" Niall questions, he was quite hesitant at first because to be honest, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer, but with the way she kept smirking as if she knew something made the question slip from his mouth. "Well, I gotta make sure what I'm doing is right, right? And I don't know how I know, I just sort of..  _know_."

_Not confusing at all_ , Niall sighs, shaking his head and looking back out the window. They stay silent for a while but Niall finds his eyes constantly landing on her bracelet. Two halves of a heart that were attached to a silver chain. It was weird, because the halves were twisted away from each other, and when the plane shook and brought the two close, they didn't click together. So yet again, Niall has to ask. 

"Is that magnetic?" The brunette girl (that now looks about the same age as him) giggles a little to loudly.

"For five days straight, they were stuck together. So I kinda took them apart for a little break, cute right?" Niall stares at her like she was crazy, rifles through his bag for a pair of earphones so he can avoid talking to anyone, mostly  _her_. 

 

  
—

Ten minutes later, she starts laughing louder than Niall's earphones played music. He takes them out and glares at her. "What the fuck are you laughing at now?"

"Nothing, I'm just excited." Niall frowns. "Why?" She grins and the blonde gets a sense of deja vu, the smile giving him the same feeling he got when Cormick grins at him. 

"You'll see." She winks. 

Niall decides that right now was a good time for a toilet break. He stands up from his seat after unbuckling his belt and walks towards the toilet, it was occupied and he just waits outside for a while. Two minutes pass and the person inside hasn't come out yet and the urge to pee rises, so he quickly decides to go to the toilet further back. 

He was seconds away from groaning after discovering it was being used as well but an old man stumbles out. A fucking deadly smell following him afterwards. Niall makes a face and stares as the old man waddles to his seat, the blonde wondering if that was the guy that strange old-lady-woman-girl was talking about. 

 

  
In an act of pure curiosity, Niall doesn't step into the toilet (he really doesn't want to with the way it smelt). Instead, he watches from a distance as the man sits down in his seat, the one next to him  _not_  empty. 

_So she lied,_  Niall frowns, walking back to his chair with his fists clenched. He was ready to start shouting at her but as soon as he arrives, the seats empty, nothing but a small piece of paper left where the old-lady-woman-girl had sat. 

Picking up the small piece of paper, he looks left and right before sighing and plopping himself down onto his chair. He stares at the folded piece before opening it up, eyebrows furrowing at the contents inside. 

 

**_There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be._ **


	8. DAY EIGHT: The Days We Suffered

When he arrives, he's completely drained. His backpack slung over one shoulder and Zayn's on his other and Niall is hit with a strong wave of fatigue once he steps on ground again. Once he gets to the exit and sees his family, the pain subsides for just a moment, hugging his mother, brother and dad all at the same time. He misses them, a lot and it feels so nice to have people worry about you.

"Nialler, I missed you so much.. how are you, sweetheart? Did you have fun?" Maura, his mother, pinches his cheeks and even if it was annoying, Niall likes it. "Yes, momma, I did." He grins. He feels a hand at his shoulder and he turns to smile at his father. "Hi, Nialler." His dad says before pulling him into a hug. Niall felt so warm. He felt so appreciated and even Greg is hugging him, his older brother that was a total pain in the ass when he was younger and now he was ruffling the blonde's hair. Niall thinks he might cry. They pull away and they're all smiling and everything's great until, "So where's that boyfriend of yours?" Yeah, Niall's definitely gonna cry.

"He couldn't come.." He bites his lower lip to keep it from wobbling. Bobby, his dad, frowned at that, wondering what kind of boyfriend would let his son come travel by himself when Niall made it clear they were coming together. "Why?" Niall wished he had a valid reason. But how was he supposed to explain it? "I don't, ugh, wanna talk about it." He says, lips sealed into a straight line. They stare at him with concerned expressions and Niall thinks that yeah, he really needs to move on. He's just not sure if he wants to.

—

 

They drive home in a comfortable silence, apart from Niall, who sat with a frown on his face the whole ride through. His mother could sense his discomfort and furrowed her brows. She reached over and placed her hand on Niall's thigh.

The blonde looked over at her, seeing his mother mouth a "you okay?" to him as he stared at her emotionless. He nodded his head before turning back to the window. He wants Zayn. He feels lost, lonely even if he was surrounded by his family.

Like a certain part of him was missing and he wants the presence of a person right now. Problem is, the person has to be Zayn. Niall knows he was moping and being a total saddo but, like, how can you not? Niall shuts his eyes closed, letting sleep takeover even if he wasn't all that tired. All he wanted to do was forget, but his heart and brain clearly disagreed.

 

—

 

Niall wakes up in his bedroom and he doesn't know if he should be happy or disappointed. Happy that he's back or disappointed that Zayn wasn't next to him. It's dark in the room, a blueish tint on the walls coming from the midnight sky outside. Niall pats his pockets for his phone, slipping it out and squinting at the bright screen. It's almost twelve am and his whole family's asleep, well, that's what he thinks. When he walks downstairs to grab a glass of water, he jumps a little at the sight of his mother in her dressing gown, a cup of coffee in her hands as she smiles at him tiredly.

"What you doin' up late, ma?" He asks, voice hushed in a whisper. She smiles tiredly at him before she beckons him towards her.

"Let's talk." Niall gulps. That was more like a nicer version of "we need to talk" and when he thinks about it now it's probably about Zayn and it makes his throat dry. Niall frowns, "What if I don't want to?"

"You have to." She uses that tone that makes Niall incapable of saying no and the blonde begrudgingly slumps down onto the seat in front her. Once he's seated, Niall begins to notice how truly worried his mother is.

She's never confronted him of his feelings before, never asked him if he's okay or if there was anything wrong, maybe getting lost in London wasn't such a bad thing. "It's about your boyfriend." Niall sighs. "How did you know?"

"That," he gestures to the obvious pout on his lips. "Is the face of the heartbroken. What happened?" She rests her mug atop the kitchen bench, watching Niall with piercing blue eyes that were practically staring into his soul. "Zayn." He blurts out, his mother confused. "Z-Zayn," he breathes out and it feels foreign on his lips. "That's his name, Zayn." He keeps saying it, why does he keep saying it?

"Zayn," his mother repeats. "Tell me about this lad then. Is he attractive?" Niall chuckles a bit, nodding his head enthusiastically. "Yeah, he is."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Cheekbones and black hair, really long eyelashes. He's.. _beautiful_." He smiles but it falls soon after because why does he have to remember? They probably won't even see each other again but – Niall gulps. They could never see each other again. For all Niall knows that could've been their last kiss, last hug, last fucking breath. Zayn could be in jail right now and Niall's, well, _not_. His mother stares concernedly at him as his eyes go vacant, dropping his gaze to the floor as he fiddled with his fingers. "What happened?" Niall smiles weakly before sighing.

"I'm not sure you'd believe me, but I'll tell you anyway." His mother bobs her head for him to continue. "Zayn's not like everybody else. He has this, like, special power that can make him go from one place to another if he thought about it." She looks incredulous when he says 'special power' but then her eyes widen.

"Oh, I've heard of that! That London's greatest mystery thing. That lad that does the romantic spray ma-jig." Niall laughs a bit before he nods. "Well, yeah. We met at the airport when he was running away from the police." Maura's eyebrows raised as Niall carried on. "And he crashed into me and everything! As soon as I was about to swear at him he, like, went poof and then there was black smoke and then it was pitch black! I figured we were in a closet and momma his face was right in front of mine." He grinned, standing up and giving her a demonstration. "I was standing against the wall and he had his hands on my hips, he was so cute." He then sat down and continued with his story. "But I was still mad because I wanted to get home, I wanted to see you guys and be here for Christmas but then I looked down at me wrist and I see that we were handcuffed! Well, that's what I thought."

Maura tilted her head in confusion, his eyes softening as he stared at the moon outside. "You see, he told me that his magic whatever had malfunctioned and that when he poof'd us into a cupboard, he accidentally locked our wrists together. But.." He blushes a bit. "But yesterday, he, um, he told me that he did it on purpose because he wanted to spend time with me. He wanted to give me my Christmas adventure," he giggles sadly before the tears begin to form. "He s-said that his main goal was to make me happy, he said that the first time he saw me, he knew I'd mean a lot to him and..that I was his christmas miracle." Niall chuckles. "If it was anybody else, I would have thought that was the cheesiest thing ever but.. the way he said it just – it was _real_. He really did feel that way about me a-and he told me he loved me, Mom." He was wrapped with small arms while he cried into his mother's shoulders.

"And I.. I never got to say it back." That was his biggest regret.

 

Maura sighs, wipes the tears from his cheeks. She decided that Niall's had enough of crying. "Go back to bed, sweetheart." she whispers.

Niall does go back to bed, but he doesn't sleep. No, he can't. He doesn't want to sleep, not if Zayn isn't there to wake him up in the morning. He stares at the ceiling, Zayn's backpack in his arms as he sniffled. He looks down at the bag and sighs, playing with the little zipper, contemplating on what's inside. He stares at it long and hard, wondering if he gave it to Niall on purpose or by accident. He stares at the black backpack before rolling his eyes.

"Fuck it." He said, opening and turning the bag upside down and letting all it's contents out. Niall furrows his brows when he sees some of the things inside. A sketchbook, probably filled with little Zaynie doodles.

A diary, though Niall's sure if Zayn was here he'd probably argue that it was a journal.

A jumper, which Niall smiled at, something he planned to sleep with.

Niall continues to rifle through the bunch of junk, seeing other Zaynish paraphernalia. He sees a few spray cans and another book which had a golden 'Z' in the corner. Zayn didn't bring much.

 

Niall smirks a bit, reaches out for the black book and turns to the first page, he sees sketches of the city skyline and other views from the top of buildings.

A smile makes its way onto Niall's as he sees people as well, Zayn's lines almost perfect like it was taken from a photograph. He flips the page and smiles wider when he sees splashes of colour on some things but the rest remain black and white. There was a bird left behind by a large pack of pigeons but Zayn splashed it with colour. Next was a brick wall with the words 'UNIQUE' graffitied in the middle, which was the only thing coloured.

Niall smiles as he continues to pass these sketches until his eyes falls on one drawing. _Him_.

Well, sort of. It was the view from a tall building, many people crowding the ground. Some with more details then other but there was one small splash of colour. Niall was practically a small head but Zayn still managed to spot him. He was the only person coloured. What did that mean? Did that mean that Niall was special? Was he important? Niall continues to flip the pages and it's all him. Even some with Harry, Liam and Louis! There was one of him in a bar with his hand around a pint and Liam's hand on his shoulder and this time Liam was in bold orange. Then Niall turns the page and there were more of him touching things and bringing them to life. There was one of him tracing the lines of a wall, his finger scratching the rough bricks and adding a rainbow to it.

More pages were flipped and more colour was added, Niall adding colour wherever he went and whatever he touched. Niall flips one page and he sees something scribbled at the top.

 

**_22/12/13 – The day I first met you_ **

 

Niall was confused, when had Zayn been drawing these? Underneath the date was a picture of Niall sleeping, the sight of tan skin at the bottom and this one had colour on the whole paper and that was the last straw. Niall's hand flew to his mouth as he holds back the whimpers that were threatening to leave his lips.

 

**_23/12/13 – The day I fell harder_  **

 

This picture was of Niall in the snow, eyes looking upwards and looking very blue. Snowflakes in his hair and his cheeks flushed, pink lips curled in a smile with a small speech bubble next to his head. 

 

 _"You were cold weren’t you? That’s why your cheeks are pink._ " 

 

Niall stops there, not wanting to see more. He slips Zayn's jumper over his shirt and buries his nose into the sleeves, it smells so much like him. He grins. After sniffing the fabric, he places the black book on his bedside and reaches over to read the journal. He opens to a random page and it coincidentally lands on the day Zayn first saw him. It was the day Niall first arrived at London, Friday 13th. The blonde's mind flashed back to the photo of him in the crowd and wonders if that was what Zayn saw, spotted him in the crowd and wrote about it in his diary.

He smiles before he starts reading.

 

 

> **_Friday 13th December_ **
> 
> _I thought today would be like every other. Nothing important, just going wherever, watching the world pass by. But then I saw something in the crowds below. I have no idea what it was that surged through me the first time I saw his blonde head trying to pass through the large crowds, looking so small (bless). But I do know that whoever he was, I'd want to see him again. I will see him again, I shall._ _No but not today, maybe get him to notice me or something_ **_._ **
> 
> _But then again, nobody ever notices me. Bloody hell I'm already so eager!_
> 
> _Probably should know his name first._  

  

Niall turns the page with a smirk. 

 

> _**Saturday 14th December** _
> 
> _Niall. His name was Niall and he's fucking adorable. I've followed him around and he's always got a frown on his face, which I'm quite eager to kiss off and watch it change into a smile. I followed him, as creepy as that sounds, and watched him shop._
> 
> _Why was he by himself? I didn't understand why a person so beautiful would be alone, not that I want him to be taken, I'm hoping he's single._

 

Niall blushes.

 

>   _He's really cute though, I saw him smile when he watches the little kids sit on Santa's lap at Westfield mall. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling this isn't gonna be the last time I'm following him._
> 
> _Oh well, my mother did say I should follow my dreams._

 

Niall closes the book, he'll read some more later, unless he starts crying that is. That'd be a bit self-destructive, he thinks. He sniffles quietly before staring out the open window, the cold breeze flowing in but Niall doesn't feel the slightest bit cold. He stares at the items sprawled out over his duvet and smiles, placing the journal on top of the sketchbook and rubbing his arms over the sweet smelling fabric of Zayn's jumper. He yawns a bit, throwing Zayn's backpack to the side of the room before burying his face in his pillow, falling asleep.

—

Niall wakes up and everything seems better than normal. His mom and dad actually acknowledged his presence today, Greg even suggesting that he'd buy Niall some new clothes considering he lost his old ones. Niall shakes his head with a slight chuckle, telling his family that he just wants to relax today, tired after so much running (Bobby and Greg looked at him curiously but only his mother understood what he meant and she nodded in agreement). So yeah, after breakfast, Niall ambles up the stairs, getting curious looks due to his attire but he didn't care. He liked Zayn's jumper and so what if it's a bit big? He's gonna wear it whether they like it or not.

When he gets to his bedroom, he sort of just lays down and stares at the ceiling, not knowing what else to do. You could say he was a bit lost. He tugs his bare legs under the shirt and hugs his knees to his chest, sighing tiredly and looking out the window from his bed. The weather was the same. Dark and gloomy, not even an ounce of sunlight pouring through the grey clouds. The dim light from outside did, however, cast a creepy, blue-tinted glow into Niall's room, more creepy than the night before. It's weird because it's morning and you'd expect it all to be birds chirping and sunlight with rainbows but right now, it's the opposite. Niall rolls his eyes when thunder crackles in the background, the faint sound of rain getting louder and when the blonde sees his carpet getting wet, he gets up to shut the window, closing the curtains after.

The room falls dark, only one ray of outdoor light shining in from the gap between the two curtains. Niall ignores it at first, but then he notices where the light is directing and his eyes catch sight of Zayn's backpack. Niall squints, a bright light reflecting in his eye which makes him wonder. He swears he emptied out the thing but it appears not when he realises that the bag has a small orb of gold inside. He furrows his brows before slowly approaching the backpack, eyes wide in wonder as he gets on his knees, taking the bag into his hands and shaking it lightly. He hears the faint ruffle of an item inside and he swallows the lump in his throat, feeling his stomach churn. He doesn't understand why he was making such a big deal out of this, it's probably just a little small thing from what he's seen seconds earlier but he still feels his throat dry up. He peers inside, eyes widening before they rolled.

"Are you kidding me?" He really had to make such a dramatic, didn't he? When he takes out what's inside, he laughs a little to himself. One, at himself for being so ridiculous, and two, because Zayn was so damn cute. The kid brought a bauble with him. To Ireland. Niall sighs, a tad bit dreamily as he grabs a hold of the string and spins the christmas decoration around. It was gold and red, sparkly as well and pretty damn large and heavy for an ornament that's supposed to be hung on a fucking tree. What made Niall's heart really swell was the beautifully written gold across the middle.

 

 **_Z + N ~ 25/12/13_**  

 

Ever since Zayn whipped out the key from his pocket, everything made sense to Niall. The graffiti, the drawings, this bauble. Niall chuckles a bit, he probably uncuffed himself whenever Niall wasn't looking. Then Niall pouted, Zayn could have at least uncuffed him for once, his wrist was still burning.

He crawls back into his bed, the bauble placed on top of the other pile of Zayn's stuff. Niall sighs after that, his day seeming boring. After spending time with Zayn, Niall completely forgot what he did before he met him. His eyes wander towards the guitar in the corner of the room and he asks himself if he's still able to play, it's been months. Well, it felt like it. He smiles when an idea pops into his head, grabbing a pen and paper and his guitar, he knows what he's gonna do for the rest of the day.

 

—

_"Yes, I do, I believe,_

_That one day I will be, where I was,_

_Right there, right next to you._

_And it's hard, the days just seem so dark._

_The moon, the stars,_

_I'm nothing without you."_

 

So he skipped lunch to write a song, and he loves it. He loves getting lost in his strumming, the lyrics, letting his feelings out through music was one of the main reasons why he loved to sing.

 

 

_"Your touch, your skin, where do I begin?_

_No words can explain, the way I'm missing you._

_The night, this emptiness, this hole that I'm inside._

_These tears, they tell their own story."_

 

And the most emotional part to Niall, is the chorus. Of course, it made him feel both a whole lot better and a tiny bit worse. He doesn't care though, the pain he feels is nice. As weird as it sounds. 

 

 

_"You told me not to cry when you were gone, but the feeling's overwhelming, they're much too strong._

_Can I lay by your side?_

_Next to you, you._

_And make sure you're alright,_

_I'll take care of you._

_And I don't wanna be here if I can't be with you tonight."_

 

The door creaks open lightly and a familiar pair of blue eyes meet with Niall's glassed ones. "Hi, Ma," he nods to her. "Nice song there, Ni. Is that for who I think it is?" Niall smiles sheepishly, nodding his head. "Yeah, I didn't really.. know what else to do. I was a bit bored." Maura furrows her brows, concerned.

"You're really hurting." She mumbles, Niall merely hums, fingers plucking at the strings of the guitar subconsciously. She looks around his messed room before the corners of her lips curl, "What are those?" She points to the books on Niall's bedside table, the blonde grinning and placing his guitar to the side. "I'll show you," he says excitedly. Niall places them on his lap, bauble aside as he flipped to the first page of the sketchbook.

"Look mum! He's really good!" He gives the book to her, watching her eyes light up within each turn of a page, her smile widening when it lands in the picture of Niall in the crowd. "It looks like he was pretty fond of you from the very start." She sends him a smirk, Niall grinning before taking the book out of her hands and giving her the diary/journal. "Read this part." He points, Maura sighing as her eyes scanned the crumpled paper. She nods once finished, "Wow.."

"Kay, now read this one!" Niall turns the page. "Then turn three pages and read the one on your right." Maura chuckled. "Slow down! I wasn't even finished!"

Niall bounces a little on his mattress, Maura shaking her head at his child-like excitement before following his orders. "A very poetic lad, I'm assuming." She mutters as she reads through his words. She reaches over towards the sketchbook again and flips through more of it. "I don't think there's anything bad about him, from what I can see." She smiles. She stops on a certain sketch that makes Niall's eyes water. 

Zayn. It was a sketch of Zayn and even though the boy was the best artist Niall's ever seen, he still did not manage to capture the true beauty the Londoner possessed.

"Th-That's him." Niall sniffles. Maura presses her lips in a tight line and nods, seeing Niall reach out and trace his fingers over the shading on his eyelashes and his cheekbones all the way down to the pout on his lips. "I miss him, Mom." Maura doesn't know what to do. She's just got her son back and she's vowed to herself never to be so careless, even telling Bobby the other day that they were never to ignore their baby.

Those days without Niall were painful, she missed him so much and when he texted her that day, she broke down into tears because Niall was safe. He was alive and well and even better, happy. This boy, Zayn, must have made such a huge impact on her baby boy because she's actually considering sending him back. "Niall, I think you should go back." Niall bites his lip closing the large black book and placing it back on his table. "You think so? What about a plane ticket?" She shrugs.

"We'll think of something." Silence falls and Niall's fingers twirl around string of the bauble, slightly mesmerised by the way it spins in his fingers.

"What's that?" He hears his mother say. "A bauble, I don't know why Zayn would bring it though. Found it in the bottom of his backpack," The two share a confused look before Niall grips the thing in his palm. He still doesn't understand why it was so heavy and big, his mother seeming to agree. "You're supposed to hang that on a tree?!"

Niall laughs, nodding confusedly. "I know right? It's freakin' huge!" They chuckle for a but before Niall stares at it intently, noticing a solid line split through the middle. His eyes widen before he looks towards his mother, making sure she can see it to. He traces his thumb over it and grabs a hold of the top and the bottom, the seam widening as he pulls the two apart.

There's an audible click and Niall gasps, his mother sharing the same look of curiosity as him and nodding for him to continue. "Open it." She says. Niall bobs his head before the bauble splits open, a velvety inside with a silver band resting in it's cushiony gap. "Is that?.."

Niall gulps. "Yeah." A ring.

"Do you think he?.."

"We've only known each other a few days ago, Ma, don't think we were that in love." He chuckles but it's not a genuine one, it was nervous. He takes the ring out of it's socket and pulls it on his finger; a perfect fit.

His mother's got a small piece of paper in her hands, eyes scanning through it before she visibly gulps, handing Niall the piece of paper with a grin. "You're going back to London, it's definite." Niall reads through the small paper. 

 

 

**_I'm not asking you to marry me,_ **

**_I'm asking you to promise._ **

**_I want us to stay together,_ **

**_Because damn, you're so flawless._ **

 

He smirks as he finishes and he nods, the promise ring feeling warm around his finger. "Yeah. I'm going back, definitely."


End file.
